In a separate study also published by Nature, Robert Liddington of The Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California, and colleagues have determined the 3-D structure of the "lethal factor" and identified the part responsible for capturing and cutting its target. A drug that blocked this region could render the toxin ineffective.
Based on the research in these two papers, the race to develop drugs has begun.
One potential drug consists of a free-floating receptor "which works as a decoy or sponge to absorb the toxin" before it docks with the real receptor (ATR) on the white blood cells, said the University of Wisconsin's John Young.
The researchers found that when the "decoy" ATR, the anthrax toxin, and rat white blood cells were mixed together in a test tube, the cells were completely protected from destruction.
Another drug developed by Collier and colleagues blocks the toxins from entering the cell. The drug has already been tested in rats and successfully protects the animals against the toxin. Harvard University is currently negotiating with companies to further its development.
However all drugs are at very early stages of development.
"We are ramping up the research to every extent possible, and we are just as emotionally stressed about this as the rest of the public," said Collier.
The major hurdle to drug development is federal funding. "Once the money is in the bank we can contract out some of the work to biotech and pharmaceutical companies," said Collier.
The next stage of research requires "big bucks" and cannot be done in universities. "We will need large quantities of potential drugs and high containment facilities to do animal testing." Collier estimates it will be at least a year or two before a drug is developed for humans.
• Watch continued television coverage of the anthrax attack on America and the latest scientific research into the disease on National Geographic Today, only on the National Geographic Channel, 7 p.m. ET/PT in the United States. Click here to request it.
