researchers identify the key that allows Covid-19 to attack cells
They were also able to close the lock in order to block the virus and avoid its interaction with the cell, that is, to prevent infection.
This discovery, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, raises hopes of developing an antiviral, in the form of an aerosol, which could eradicate the virus in the event of infection or high-risk contact, underlines UCLouvain.
For the past two years, the team of David Alsteens, a researcher at UCLouvain’s Institute of Biomolecular Sciences and Technologies, has been understanding and working on the precise mechanisms, at the molecular level, used by the virus to infect a cell. They investigated the interaction between sialic acids (SA), types of sugar residues present on the surface of cells, and the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 with the aim of elucidating its role in the infection process.
We already knew that the sugar residues that decorate cells have the function of promoting their recognition, thus allowing viruses to more easily identify their targets, but also to facilitate their point of attachment and infection. cells. The researchers have now identified a variant of these sugars that interacts more strongly with protein S than other sugars. Clearly, they found the set of keys that allows viruses to open the cell door, explains the university.
The researchers then decided to catch the virus in its own trap, preventing it from clinging to its host cell. To do this, they blocked the attachment points of the S protein and therefore eliminated any interaction with the cell surface, as if a padlock blocked the lock of the entry door to the cell. “If the virus does not attach to cells, it no longer knows how to enter and therefore it dies. Thanks to this blocking, we prevent infection, ”continues UCLouvain. And to add that this discovery has the advantage of acting on the virus, independently of the mutations.
The team of researchers will now carry out tests on mice in order to apply this blocking of the bonds of the virus and to observe whether it works on the organism. The results should make it possible to develop an antiviral.