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Shisler has obtained a patent to pursue the use of MC160, which is only made in skin cells and stays within them, as a therapeutic tool. Painful inflammatory responses caused by cytokine production in rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and similar maladies potentially could be cured by MC160.

It is hoped, she said, that the protein's large size (almost 60 kiloDaltons) can be reduced to smaller, activity-specific peptide regions. Doing so would simplify the preparation of a topical treatment that would inhibit painful inflammatory responses.

The molluscum contagiosum virus that produces MC160 is a distant relative of smallpox and causes a benign, short-lived skin infection in children and sexually active young adults. It is a common disease, with antibodies detected in up to 50 percent of populations tested in numerous studies. The lesions resemble chickenpox (a disease actually caused by a herpes virus) and are often confused as such. There is no treatment.

The incidence of MCV infections has increased with the rise of AIDS. MCV is an opportunistic infection in immunocompromised people, with MCV lesions growing very large and persisting for much longer periods, even years, in this population, Shisler said.

"This virus makes other proteins that dampen the immune response, but MC160 seems to be an important one," Shisler said. "Another goal is to design a drug that would override the activity of the protein as a cure for MCV."

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