Washington: Scientists have identified post-infection treatments for SARS-COV-2, viruses that cause Covid-19, and succeed in showing their efficacy in stopping viral reproduction in mice.
This study, published in the Journal of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicated that the animal models infected with SARS-COV-2 and treated with the inhibitors of protease enzymes have significantly increased survival and reducing the number of lung viruses.
This protease inhibitor is a class of antivirus drugs that prevent virus reproduction by binding selectively on viral enzymes and blocking protein activation needed for infectious viral particle production.
“We developed the GC376 protease inhibitors to treat fatal Koronavirus infections in cats, which are now under commercial development as new animal drugs that investigate,” said Yunjeong Kim, Professor Kansas State University in the US.
“After Covid-19 appeared, many research groups reported that this inhibitor was also effective against Coronavirus which caused Covid-19, and many of which are currently pursuing the development of protease inhibitors as treatment,” Kim said.
The research team modified the GC376 using a tool called Deuteration to test its efficacy with SARS-COV-2.
Treatment with a deuterated variant starting 24 hours after infection resulted in a significant increase in rats compared to untreated mice, the researchers said.
The results show that the deuterated variant has a very good potential as an antivirus agent against SARS-COV-2, they said.
“Treating the infected SARS-COV-2 mice with GC376 which significantly increases the survival, viral replication in the lungs and weight loss, which shows the efficacy of antivirus compounds,” said Kyeong-OK Chang, Professor in Kansas State University.
“The result shows Deuterated GC376 has the potential for further development, and this deuteration method can be used for other antivirus compounds to produce effective inhibitors,” Chang said.
Virologies continue to develop increased inhibitors using various methods.
Deuterated GC376 is currently being evaluated for further development of potential.