Liposome treatment of viral infections

One can treat a viral infection such as hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infections via the delivery of pH sensitive liposomes directly into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. Two exemplary liposome formulations are DOPE/CHEMS (DC liposomes) and DOPE/CHEMS/PEG-PE (DCPP liposomes). DC and DCPP liposomes can optimize the intracellular delivery of N -butyl deoxynojirimycin (NB-DNJ), and consequently increase the in vivo activity of this iminosugar several orders of magnitude, and could be used in combination with other therapeutic agents such as interferon and/or ribavirin. The optimized release of N B-DNJ directly into the ER can be also applied for the treatment of other viruses, for which NB-DNJ is known to be an effective antiviral, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)