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Merigan in the Treatment of Various Virus Infections","","Prof. Dr. Thomas C. Merigan’s research on interferon and antiviral therapy spans nearly half a century, beginning in 1963 and evolving through multiple classes of interferon inducers. He identified synthetic polyanionic compounds such as pyran copolymer and thiophosphate-substituted polyribonucleotides, including poly r(sA-sU), and highlighted interferon’s therapeutic potential for infections. Applications progressed from early evidence in varicella-zoster virus to herpes viruses, hepatitis B, and ultimately HIV. His pioneering work warrants further in-depth clinical evaluation for these pivotal virus infections.",{"@graph":69,"@context":126},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/pioneering-role-of-tc-merigan-in-the-treatment-of-various-virus-infections/466279/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/pioneering-role-of-tc-merigan-in-the-treatment-of-various-virus-infections/466279.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Adam","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118,122],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What major research direction did T.C. Merigan pursue starting in 1963?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"He focused on interferon as a virus-induced host response and investigated its use as a therapeutic agent for virus infections.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Which compounds did Merigan and colleagues identify as interferon inducers?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"They identified pyran copolymer and thiophosphate-substituted polyribonucleotides, especially poly r(sA-sU), as inducers with strong antiviral/interferon-inducing properties.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"For which virus infections did Merigan’s work suggest therapeutic relevance?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The article highlights early relevance for varicella-zoster virus and later interest in herpes viruses (HSV, CMV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).",{"name":123,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":124},"What does the article conclude about further evaluation?",{"text":125,"@type":113},"Merigan’s pioneering work merits further in-depth clinical evaluation for the treatment of pivotal virus infections.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":128,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":130,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":132,"site_id":62},466279,1790811542,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":135},{"doc_id":132,"user_id":136,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":137,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":138,"file_id":139,"file_url":140,"file_type":141,"file_size":142,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":143,"language":144,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":145,"faqs":146,"seo_title":147,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":148,"read_time":149,"preview_page_count":4},1374404737137,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Review  \nPioneering Role of T.C. Merigan in the Treatment of Various Virus Infections  \nErik De Clercq   \nAcademic Editor: Thomas J. Schmidt  \nReceived: 8 October 2025  \nAccepted: 11 December 2025  \nPublished: 22 December 2025  \nCopyright: © 2025 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.  \nRega Institute for Medical Research, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, KU Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium; [erik.declercq@kuleuven.be](erik.declercq@kuleuven.be)  \nAbstract  \nThe research of Prof. Dr. Thomas C. Merigan has spanned almost half a century. It started in 1963 with his interest in interferon (i) . He then identified pyran copolymer as a synthetic polyanionic inducer of interferon (ii), and thereafter thiophosphate-substituted polyribonucleotides, i.e., poly r(sA-sU) (iii) . He recognized the potential of interferon as a therapeutic agent for virus infections (iv), varicella-zoster virus (VZV) being the first casein point (v) . His interest then shifted to the treatment of herpes virus [herpes simplex virus (HSV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV)] infections (vi) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections (vii), to end up with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections (viii, ix, x) . T.C. Merigan’s pioneering work on the treatment of so many pivotal virus infections deserves further in-depth clinical evaluation.  \nKeywords: interferon; pyran copolymer; poly r(sA-sU); VZV; HSV; CMV; HBV; HIV  \n1. Introduction  \nT.C. Merigan first reported that highly purified preparations of chick and mouse interferons had marked species specificity [1] . He concluded that interferon is a virus-induced product of the host genome [1] . Petralli et al. [2] then detected a viral inhibitory factor in the serum of 17 of 18 children undergoing primary measles vaccination; this viral inhibitory factor had the properties of human interferon [2]: its appearance closely correlated with the induction of fever (Figure 1) . Its presence 6 to 11 days after vaccination was consistent with the hypothesis that it mediates the interference observed when vaccination with attenuated measles virus prevents the clinical manifestations of measles even if given 3 days after exposure [2] . The measles virus-stimulated circulating interferon was also associated with protection against vaccinia virus infection [3] .  \nFigure 1. Correlation of serum interferon and fever responses after measles vaccination. Reproduced with permission from J. K. Petralli, T. C. Merigan and J. R. Wilbur, The New England Journal of Medicine; published by Massachusetts Medical Society, 1965 [2] .  \n2. Pyran (Maleic Divinyl Ether) Copolymer  \nWhile reviewing interferons of mice and men [4], Merigan referred to a synthetic polysaccharide of 17,000 molecular weight, found by Dr. William Regelson, to be capable of inducing circulating antiviral activity in the mouse. That this “synthetic anionic polymer of known composition” might act as an interferon inducer in humans was implied by T.C. Merigan [5] . That it actually did so was eventually demonstrated by Merigan and Regelson [6] . Protection against Mengo virus infection in the mouse was found with doses of pyran copolymer as low as 1 mg per kg of body weight [6] . This suggests that antiviral effects in man might be achieved at lower (and probably safer) dosage levels than those required to produce demonstrable circulating interferon [6] . The news that other synthetic anionic polymers, such as polyacrylic acid, were also capable of inducing interferon [7,8] must have reached T.C. Merigan by 1968, so that he and Finkelstein referred to polyacrylic acid in their paper [9] . I included the chemical structures of both pyran copolymer and polyacrylic acid in my PhD thesis (Figure 2) [10] .  \nFigure 2. Molecular structure of pyran (maleic anhydride/divinyl ether) copolymer and polyacrylic acid (P","cbCaigyPJ0w0aMe8","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigyPJ0w0aMe8","pdf",2889595,14,"English","# Introduction\n# Pyran (Maleic Divinyl Ether) Copolymer\n# Thiophosphate-Substituted Polyribonucleotides","[{\"question\":\"What major research direction did T.C. Merigan pursue starting in 1963?\",\"answer\":\"He focused on interferon as a virus-induced host response and investigated its use as a therapeutic agent for virus infections.\"},{\"question\":\"Which compounds did Merigan and colleagues identify as interferon inducers?\",\"answer\":\"They identified pyran copolymer and thiophosphate-substituted polyribonucleotides, especially poly r(sA-sU), as inducers with strong antiviral/interferon-inducing properties.\"},{\"question\":\"For which virus infections did Merigan’s work suggest therapeutic relevance?\",\"answer\":\"The article highlights early relevance for varicella-zoster virus and later interest in herpes viruses (HSV, CMV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).\"},{\"question\":\"What does the article conclude about further evaluation?\",\"answer\":\"Merigan’s pioneering work merits further in-depth clinical evaluation for the treatment of pivotal virus infections.\"}]","Pioneering Role of T.C. Merigan in the Treatment of Various Virus Infections | PDF",1790770982,35]