I think it could be a very good therapeutic agent. This is the web site that announces Todd Ridder's work in MIT : https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html. So, what do you think of supporting his research?
DRACO is based on dsRNA, hence have similar issues like other oligo based therapies like delivery, off-target effect and stability related issues.
DRACO selectively induces apoptosis of viral infected cells based on long dsRNA transcribed by viral infected cells. However, will a viral infected cell evade apoptosis? How will an infected cell react in case the apoptotic machinery is defective?
To Venkatesh Rengaswamy: Very good point. In fact, many viruses force the cell to evade the apoptosis pathway to keep it alive. Many infections damage the apoptotic machinery. However, this happens in natural conditions. DRACO is a chimeric protein with one domain that binds to viral dsRNA and a second domain (e.g., a procaspase-binding domain or a procaspase) that induces apoptosis when two or more DRACOs crosslink on the same dsRNA. So, the DRACO molecule enforce the apoptosis response in the presence of long double stranded RNA. In other words: DRACO produces a very strong apoptosis response in infected cells (and only in infected cells), in a way that usually does not happen naturaly. In fact, DRACO has already been proven in mice, and it has been very effective and safe. See this link please: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0022572
And what do you think about this article: "Ebola Virus Does Not Block Apoptotic Signaling Pathways" . This is the web site: http://jvi.asm.org/content/87/10/5384.full