Share

June 13, 2020

Identified a natural substance, already present in the body, which can block the "attack" of Sars-Cov2. It is to this result that researchers from the Federico II University of Naples and the University of Perugia came to identify endogenous molecules capable of preventing the entry of the virus into human cells.

The molecules are steroid in nature and some of them are bile acids, i.e. substances produced in the liver and intestines by cholesterol metabolism and are able to stop the infection when the viral load is not very high.

It is a substance already present in the body - explains Angela Zampella, director of the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Naples Federico II - that blocks the entry of the virus into the cells ". It is a completely natural substance also present in foods such as licorice and olive oil and "act with the same mechanism". A discovery that paves the way for a different prevention also because, as Zampella says, "it works when the virus load is not very high".

The study, Zampella says, is the first step in drawing up a therapeutic protocol that will be proposed to the attention of Aifa. The study, in the pre-print phase on the BioRxiv website which reports the identification of new molecular targets capable of interfering with the entry mechanism of Sars-Cov2 into the target cells, has combined computational approaches of the group of Dr. Bruno Catalanotti, of synthetic chemistry, professor Angela Zampella, and of molecular biology of doctor Adriana Carino of the group led by professor Stefano Fiorucci, and also involved the groups of microbiology and infectious diseases of the University of Perugia.