Researcher Marco Venuzzi is working with two research teams from San Francisco and New York to develop potential drugs for the emerging corona virus that causes "Covid-19", and the French magazine Le Point said that some of them depend on antibodies found in camels.
In an interview with this award-winning scientist for his work on tropical diseases, the magazine stated that, in cooperation with many universities in San Francisco and New York, he is developing revolutionary treatments against the Corona virus.
In the interview with Baudouin Ishbas, Venuzzi said that the Corona virus is single-genome, and that it is one of the largest RNA viruses known to scientists, as it contains 30 thousand genetic bases or "brick", which is twice the number of building blocks of the seasonal influenza virus and 4 times the number I have the polio virus.
The scientist said - in the report published by the magazine entitled "Antibodies from camels to treat Covid-19?" - The structure of the single helix RNA has given this virus a higher mutation rate, which means that it is more likely to mutate than living organisms. This is the strength of these emerging viruses that allow them to jump from one animal species to another, including the human race, which is based on two helices.
However, this ability to mutate "mutation" is not always seen by the scientist as worrying, because most of the mutations that occur in this coronavirus do not make it deeply change in nature, and it may be useful for studying its evolutionary history, and it may also be a useful tool that allows us to determine the duration of the spread The virus, and what are the chains of transmission within a focus of infection, and thanks to these "differences" we know when and where the virus is transmitted from one country to another.
Errors
Venuzzi explained that the idea that his team is developing is to exploit the errors that can interfere with the genome of the virus, in order to prevent this infectious agent from spreading, for example errors may occur copying the virus to itself "reproduce", where it may mistake the coding to make its code unreadable, which is what Scientists call it "the flawed genome."
The scientist - who lived most of his life in Canada - said that the defective virus is no longer able to produce certain proteins that are vital to it at times, and therefore, "our goal is to use the weak links that these genomes form to weaken the Corona virus."
Asked if he had other studies underway to treat "Covid-19," Vinuzzi said that, in cooperation with the University of California, San Francisco, he is exploring some molecules that are included in drugs already used for other diseases or about to be marketed in other treatments.
Molecules
He explained that one of these molecules was identified by the codename "BP28" (PB28) 20 or 30 times more effective than hydroxychloroquine in the laboratory, but it remains to be tested on living bodies, and it targets the "Sigma 1 receptor" (Sigma 1). receptor), which has been shown to be important in Covid-19 infection.
Venusi referred to another molecule known as "Apilimod", which he said targets an enzyme capable of activating or stimulating another enzyme, and that its effect on viral cell cultures seemed impressive.
The scientist concluded that these particles belong to the family of "nanobodies", meaning that they are small antibodies, produced in particular in certain animal species such as camels, llamas, alpacas and sharks, referring to their anti-corona virus properties, but converting them into a treatment remains the problem.