Scientists of the Federal Scientific Center for Physics and Chemistry Yu.M. Lopukhina and MIPT have developed a new compound with antiviral activity that suppresses the replication of the coronavirus by affecting a stable, immutable target in its genome. The results of scientists’ studies have been published magazine Biomolecules.
“In our laboratory, we tried to create the active ingredient of a drug for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. It is intended for patients at the initial stage of disease development. Creating a drug is a long process; In the first step we chose a non-standard target; a special node in the genomic RNA of the virus, called a pseudonode. This structure plays an important role in the process of producing new viral particles; Without this structure, modification of the protein synthesis program cannot begin. Once the virus enters the body, it begins to multiply, takes over the site, and for this it needs to produce proteins that will further copy the genome,” explained first author Ekaterina Knizhnik, a fifth-year student at MIPT and MIPT employee from the laboratory of the structure and functions of biopolymers Yu.M. .Lopukhina.
Viral replication requires the formation of a pseudoknot during protein synthesis from RNA. This process is carried out using the translation apparatus. During synthesis of the first polypeptide in the first reading frame, this apparatus slows down when it encounters a genomic knot. Thus, ribosome slippage occurs. After slippage, the second synthesis program is activated and a polypeptide corresponding to the second reading frame is produced.
The compound inhibits RNA replication in the region of the viral genome between two reading frames and can be suppressed by oligonucleotide-based antiviral drugs. The target of the agent is the pseudonode, a stable element of the virus genome. A medicine based on such a substance will not become obsolete like vaccines, and this determines the future of scientists’ research.
Previous scientists EstablishedIt was stated that the risk of death in COVID is 50% higher than in flu.