Space research aids study of deadly virus.

NASA and industry biotechnology researchers have taken a step toward developing a treatment for a life-threatening virus that causes pneumonia and severe upper respiratory infection in infants and young children. The infection, called respiratory syncytial virus, attacks the respiratory airways and lungs. According to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, Washington, D.C., nearly 4,000,000 children aged one to five are infected each year by the virus. Approximately 100,000 of these children require hospitalization and 4,000 die annually from the resulting infection. The virus is considered by physicians to be the most serious infectious disease for infants in the U.S.

"Through NASA funding research in space and on the ground, and the application of space technology, we have determined the three-dimensional atomic structure of a potentially very important therapeutic antibody to this virus," indicates Daniel Carter, president of New Century Pharmaceuticals, Huntsville, Ala. Antibodies aid the individual's immune system by neutralizing toxins, such as viruses, as they attempt to invade healthy cells. Knowledge of its molecular structure will permit scientists to understand key interactions between the antibody and virus, facilitating development of treatments for the disease.

"Currently, there is no vaccine against the virus," notes Simon McKenzie, chief executive officer of Intracel Corp., Issaquah, Wash., which developed and produces the antibody. "Since this antibody neutralizes all known variants of the...