‘Instead of the viruses attaching to the cell and going inside, they clump together’
‘Instead of the viruses attaching to the cell and going inside, they clump together’
The scientists at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have reported a brand new class of synthetic peptides or miniproteins (molecules) that can assist combat COVID-19 by rendering viruses inactive. While blocking the entry of sure viruses into the cells, they can even clump the virus particles collectively to scale back the an infection ranges.
While the trials on hamsters have proven good outcomes, the researchers are planning to deliver out anti-viral medication that may hopefully combat COVID-19 and in addition check for functions within the area of oncology additional.
Speaking to The Hindu, Jayanta Chatterjee, Associate Professor within the Molecular Biophysics Unit, IISc and in addition the lead creator of the examine, printed in Nature Chemical Biology, defined the mechanism in layman phrases thus:
“Typically, a drug molecule binds to one protein and in most cases, they stay attached for some time, and then dissociate together. These miniproteins which are helical, hairpin-shaped peptides, each capable of pairing up with another of its kind, forming what is known as a dimer. These bundles have two identical faces bound by high affinity. It is extremely difficult to denature them and when they bind to the target, they also dimerise these targets. This allows one to develop a completely new mechanism of the drugs.”
He additional mentioned, “The part which is engaged in binding to the cells is nullified. So instead of the virus attaching to the cell and going inside, the viruses clump together. This is not something that antibodies typically do”. He added that this might assist towards a number of viruses and will additionally assist in the sector of oncology the place there is no such thing as a fast mutation. The staff has utilized for a patent at present.
During the examine, a brand new method whereby miniprotiens can bind to and block the protein spike on the floor of SARS-CoV-2 virus, was explored by the scientists. To check their speculation, they used a miniprotein known as SIH – 5 to focus on the interplay between the spike (S) protein of the virus and ACE2 protein in human cells.
“The S protein is a trimer – a complex of three identical polypeptides. Each polypeptide contains a Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) that binds to the ACE2 receptor on the host cell surface. This interaction facilitates viral entry into the cell,” mentioned a press launch from IISc.
“The SIH-5 miniprotein was designed to block the binding of the RBD to human ACE2. When a SIH-5 dimer encountered an S protein, one of its faces bound tightly to one of the three RBDs on the S protein trimer, and the other face bound to an RBD from a different S protein. This ‘cross-linking’ allowed the miniprotein to block both S proteins at the same time,” the discharge additional mentioned.
To check impact of SIH – 5 on COVID-19, when hamsters have been administered the miniproteins and uncovered to the virus on the lab of Raghavan Varadarajan, Professor, Molecular Biology Unit of IISc, it was noticed that there was no weight reduction, decreased viral load and lesser lung harm.
“We are planning on talking to pharmaceutical companies and maybe conduct clinical trials on human beings before releasing it as an antiviral drug”, mentioned Somnath Dutta, Assistant Professor at MBU and one of many corresponding authors of the examine.
Source: www.thehindu.com
