A new drug was found to decrease Hepatitis B virus. The drug is an analogue of one of the nucleic acid bases of DNA and probably works by being incorporated into the virus and disrupting viral genes during viral DNA replication. However, patients in a clinical trial of the drug began to experience drastic overproduction of lactic acid and liver failure leading to death. The most likely explanation for the problem:
A. Incorporation of the drug into mitochondrial DNA disrupts the ability of mitochondria to make ATP. B. The virus with mutations must overproduce lactic acid.
The Biology Project
University of Arizona
Tuesday, August 20, 1996
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