Developed a new medicine against Covid-19

Scientists of the Medical Research Institute in Queensland (USA) developed two new drugs both to prevent SARS-COV-2 infection and for the treatment of people already exposed to the virus. The article with the results of scientific work is published in the Cell Discovery magazine.

Peptide-based drugs are currently tested on hamsters in the French Center for Preclinical and Clinical Studies IDMIT. Pre-testing has shown that the compounds are not toxic and do not cause serious side effects.

The first drug slows down the progression of infection by blocking the binding of the spike virus protein with the human receptor ACE2. Laboratory tests also demonstrated that if the virus enters the cells, the second peptide can block the host cell-coronavirus and its replication, which increases the ability of the immune system to recognize the virus and fight against it.

Scientists have determined that the LSD1 enzyme players one of the key roles in infection, which is located on the surface of the host cell along with ACE2 and contributes to the interaction of the spike virus protein with the membrane of the infected cell. Ace2 has a domain located on the inside of the membrane, which regulates the transcription of viral RNA. When blocking LSD1, the activity of this domain was suppressed, and the virus transcription stopped.

/Media reports.