It is a discovery from the United States that could well be a big step forward in the fight against the Covid-19.
According to the scientific journal Nature, scientists from the Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have identified what could be the “Achilles heel” of the coronavirus. The team of researchers took a close interest in its protein called “spicule”: it is it that the coronavirus uses to attach to human cells and then to infect them.
3,800 variations of this protein were created by the researchers. As a result, many of them attach to human cells as efficiently as that used by the coronavirus.
Hope in the fight against the virus
This first step made it possible to identify precisely which parts of the protein are crucial for the attachment of the virus. American scientists were then able to identify amino acids which, once modified, alter this fixation.
An important discovery because it could promote the development of molecules that will neutralize the ability of the virus to infect cells. Enough to give hope in the fight against the coronavirus when a lot of research continues to be carried out all over the world.
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