A Research team at Alberta University has discovered a new class of medications that could prevent or treat infection in viral outbreak in the future. In the paper published this week in Nature, the team has reported that SARS-CoV-2 โ the virus that causes COVID-19 โ activates a route in cells that prevents the production of peroxisome and interferon, which are the major parts of the general immune reaction.
The team successfully tested a new category of antiviral drugs that stimulate interferon production to reverse that effect. Tom Hobman, Chief Author and Professor of Cell Biology at the Medical and Dental Faculty, indicates that Interferon prevents from generating more viruses by closing the infected cell, which often causes the cell to die, and then stops it by acting on surrounding cells.
They can be saved from being infected. This paper is based on his teamโs earlier research, which showed how HIV cells have developed to activate the Wnt/ฮฒ-catenin signaling pathway, which is a way to prevent the bodyโs production of peroxisomes, which triggers interferon production. Researchers thought SARS-CoV-2, another RNA virus, would act in a similar way to resist the bodyโs antiviral reaction.
For the study, the team tried 40 existing medications that target the Wnt/ฮฒ-Catenin signaling route. Most were originally developed and tested for cancer treatment, which often responds to increased interferon production. Three medications considerably reduced the amount of viruses found in the lungs, and one drug was also effective in reducing inflammation and other clinical symptoms in rats.
During the viral outbreak, people who have been in touch with it or in which already developed early symptoms will have to undergo four or five days course to increase their peroxisome levels and limit the severity and dissemination of the disease. Hobman says, the beauty of this approach is that in the absence of viral infection, no interferon arises. We see these medications are potentially working as the first line medications against the emerging virus. “
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