Breakthrough means cure for the common cold could be right around the corner, scientists say

SAN FRANCISCO -- Scientists believe we are on the verge of a cure for the common cold.

Teams at Stanford and University of California at San Francisco announced a major first step. It involves temporarily disabling a single, specific protein inside our cells.

They found that when that protein is disabled, it stops many common cold viruses and other diseases from spreading in the body.

"Traditional anti-viral drugs target the virus itself, but the virus is very smart and it can mutate its way around it," Stanford University Associate Professor Jan Carette, PhD explained. "What we do is make the host inhospitable for these viruses. So it's much more difficult for these viruses to mutate around."

Now - the work begins to develop a drug that temporarily disables that protein.

Once that happens, human trials can begin, and if all goes well, a cure for the common cold could happen soon after.