Could a pill containing Viagra cure illnesses from Ebola to brain cancer, hepatitis to MRSA?

• Scientists have identified a protein GRP78 key to treating a range of illnesses including Ebola, brain cancer, hepatitis, MRSA and influenza
• By attacking the protein cancer cells are killed, viruses are prevented from infecting and reproducing and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are killed
• Could pave the way for a raft of new treatments to combat illnesses

By Lizzie Parry for MailOnline

Published: 11:39 EST, 5 January 2015 | Updated: 12:17 EST, 5 January 2015

A combination treatment including Viagra could help treat a range of viruses and bacterial infections

Viagra could be key to developing new treatments to combat illnesses including Ebola, brain cancer, influenza, hepatitis and the superbug MRSA.

Scientists have discovered that drugs which attack the protein GRP78 may pave the way for new treatments.

The study, at Virginia Commonwealth University clinically tested a drug combination, which included Viagra and Cialis, or Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors, as they are also known.

Researchers found they prevented the replication of a number of different viruses in infected cells.

They also made antibiotic-resistant bacteria vulnerable to common antibiotics, and killed brain cancer stem cells.

'Basically, we've got a concept that by attacking GRP78 and related proteins, we hurt cancer cells, inhibit the ability of viruses to infect and the reproduce, and we are able to kill superbug antibiotic-resistant bacteria, said lead investigator, Paul Dent, at VCU's School of Medicine.

The study considered the effects in treating brain cancer, influenza, mumps, measles and rubella, adenovirus, coxsake virus, Ebola, hepatitis, E.Coli, MRSA, MRSE and N. gonorrhoeae.

GRP78 is part of a family of proteins called chaperones.

Their job is to help shape chains of amino acids into proteins and then to keep those proteins in the correct 3D shape.

The Viagra drug combination used in the study attacks GRP78 and other chaperones, thereby killing cancer cells.

After discovering the effect on cancer cells, Professor Dent and his team began to target GRP78 for infectious diseases, including viruses and bacterial infections.

Professor Dent said: 'The findings open an avenue of being able to treat viral infections, infections that certainly most people would say we'll never be able to treat.

'They prove that GRP78 is a "drugable" target to stop viruses from reproducing and spreading.

'And in the case of bacteria, we have a new antibiotic target, Dna K, that if we’re careful and only use the OSU drug in hospitals, we’ve got something that can help to treat the superbugs.'

He said the next steps have already been taken and are leading to new discoveries.

Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University discovered that by attacking a protein known as GRP78, virus like Ebola, pictured, can be prevented from reproducing in cells

'We know in mice that the Viagra treatment can kill tumour cells but doesn't harm normal tissues like the liver and the heart.

'Of even more importance, we've just discovered that the Viagra combination for making tumour cells resistant to chemotherapy and for stopping life-saving brain cancer chemotherapy from entering into the brain and killing cancer.'

Researchers from university have previously found Viagra drug combinations can be beneficial in other ways.

In 2010, Dr Rakesh Kukreja and Professor Eric Lipman, working with Professor Dent, found Viagra improved the effectiveness of the breast cancer treatment Doxorubicin, while protecting the heart from the harm caused by chemotherapy.

In 2013 and 2014 Professor Dent obtained similar data with Viagra and conventional chemotherapy in bladder, pancreatic and paediatric brain cancer cells.

Based on Professor Dent's new study, a new phase one clinical trial will open at VCY Massey Cancer Center combining the colon cancer drug regorafenib with Viagra for all solid tumour patients.

The pre-clinical study was published this month in the Journal of Cellular Physiology.

The researchers also discovered the treatment was able to kill brain cancer cells, pictured