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The ACE2 receptor on the cell surface, which SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter, could be the means of fighting the virus. Inserted into the body, ACE2 enzymes can attract viral particles, preventing them from infecting healthy cells, says a Russian researcher.
Although several vaccines against Covid-19 have already been created, including the first in Russia, scientists continue to study the means of protection against the pathogen. Among them is the ACE2 enzyme, the entry point of SARS-CoV-2 in human cells.
Russian bioinformatician Alexander Tyshkovskiy, a researcher at Lomonosov Moscow State University and Harvard School of Medicine, believes that the ACE2 receptor that makes our cells vulnerable to the virus can be turned into a defense against the pathogen.
“The recipe for this innovative drug is simple: insert additional copies of the ACE2 protein into a patient’s blood. It can also take its part responsible for interacting with the virus. In this case, additional receptors will act as antibodies: they will bind the spines of the coronavirus and prevent them from attacking the cells. It will be like a decoy, every time the virus, trying to enter a cell, falls into the traps we have set for it, “he explains, citing a May 2020 article in the journal Cell that confirms the effectiveness of this method.
The positive aspects of the method
Furthermore, the ACE2 enzyme is responsible for the breakdown of the hormone angiotensin 2 which causes hypertension, inflammation and cytokine shock, which are the main killers in patients with Coid-19. In fact, the insertion of an experimental drug with ACE2 allowed to halve the level of cytokines in a 45-year-old patient with Covid-19 whose case is described in a Lancet article of 24 September.
However, the proposed method has a disadvantage: the ACE2 protein binds to the coronavirus 100 times less well than antibodies, which is why very high doses of receptors need to be injected into the body to neutralize the pathogen. However, recent publications in the journals Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) show that it is possible to introduce small mutations in the receptor structure to increase its efficiency. Therefore, only thanks to three mutations, it was shown that modified ACE2 receptors are able to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 1000 times better than unmodified ACE2.
Tyshkovskiy notes that the arsenal of methods to fight the coronavirus is growing month by month. And while some drugs help fend off an attack when the virus first appears in the body, others allow us to get rid of it, even if they bypass our immune systems. However, the results of clinical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of these approaches in the coming months, concludes the researcher.
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