An international team of researchers has created a synthetic protein that binds to the spikes on a COVID virus. The new protein effectively “fills up” the space on the virus that it would use to bind to a human cell.
The filled-in connection leaves the virus no way to grab onto a human cell and infect a host.
After giving design guidelines to a computer network, the team was left with 35,000 possible synthetic protein shapes. The most promising were screened in more detail, with one – called CTC-445.2 – leading the results.
Tested on human cells, the new protein prevented infection; in a trial using hamsters, the animals were given the new protein 12 hours before being subjected to a heavy dose of the COVID virus. All survived, with “modest” weight loss being the only readily apparent side effect.
The group invented a synthetic protein for the job because natural proteins tweaked for a similar purpose often are unstable and can spark an immune response in patients.
TRENDPOST: The approach can be useful for preventing infection in people who have been exposed to the virus and in front-line health workers, teachers, restaurant workers, and others at high risk of exposure. However, the preventive could require regular doses for those at constant risk because the body can’t reproduce the synthetic protein.
The same technique will be able to quickly identify proteins that could be used to prevent infection by later spike viruses.
