A newly discovered drug that works against each covid-19 and cancer could prove to be a game-changer in medicine, scientists imagine.
Researchers on the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the Cleveland Clinic Florida Research and Innovation Centre, found a significant protein GRP78, implicated in each covid-19 and cancer, may very well be countered with the drug named HA15. The drug specifically binds to GRP78 and inhibits its activity
The findings of the study were published within the journal Nature Communications.
GRP78 is a chaperone protein that, together with other cellular receptors, aids the entry of the SARS-COV-2 virus contained in the cells, as per DrugTargetRveview. GRP78 has been implicated within the spread of other viruses as well.
The researchers, while examining infected human lung cells, found higher production of GRP78 in infected cells because the infection increased in intensity.
To find out the importance of GRP78 within the spread of Covid-19 infection, researchers suppressed the production of the protein in human lung epithelial cells in cell culture. When those cells were infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus, the study found that infected cells produced a lower amount of the viral spike protein and released much less of the virus to contaminate other cells.
“We now have direct evidence that GRP78 is a proviral protein that is crucial for the virus to copy,” co-author, Amy S. Lee, professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine on the Keck School of Medicine of USC, said, in response to MedicalXpress.
Next, the research team tested the drug, HA15, on the infected lung cells to evaluate the feasibility of targeting GRP78 to bring down the infection.
“Lo and behold, we found that this drug was very effective in reducing the number and size of SARS-CoV-2 plaques produced within the infected cells, in secure doses which had no harmful effect on normal cells,” Lee commented.
After encouraging results, the researchers tested the efficacy of the drug in genetically-engineered mice, which were programmed to specific a human SARS-CoV-2 receptor. The mice were infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus. The result was significantly reduced viral load within the lungs.
In one other study, the research team on the Keck School of Medicine investigated the efficacy of HA15 in cancer, together with one other GRP78 inhibitor YUM70. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers on the University of Michigan, US.
It was present in the study that each, HA15 and YUM70, suppressed the production of mutant KRAS proteins, a typical mutation that resists drug treatment, and likewise reduced the variety of such mutant-bearing cancer cells.
Thus, the drugs may very well be used to focus on GRP78, which, in turn, would help fight off cancer.
The following step can be to check the security and efficacy of the drug in humans through clinical trials.