TASS, May 27. Hong Kong doctors have found that simeprevir, a newly created cure for hepatitis C, can inhibit the growth of a new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in human cells and enhance the effect of another antiviral drug, remdesivir. The results of their experiments are published in the bioRxiv electronic scientific library.
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“Our experiments show that simeprevir and remdesivir reinforce each other, so that the doses of both drugs in the treatment of coronavirus infection can be reduced. This is very important because the virus can develop resistance to one of these substances if will begin to be widely applied in practice, “the researchers write.
From the very beginning of the outbreak of a new type of coronavirus, scientists and doctors have been examining how existing antiviral drugs and other drugs act on it. Over the past three months, biologists have identified dozens of drugs and antibodies that can hypothetically inhibit the reproduction of the virus, and also tested several drugs in action, including hydroxychloroquine, a medicine for malaria, an HIV drug nelfinavir or another anti-malarial drug, mefloquine.
So far, researchers have identified only a few drugs that can act on coronavirus: for example, favipiravir, remdesivir and the recombinant protein interferon-2-alpha. They were created to fight the influenza virus, hepatitis C and Ebola, but have already proven themselves in various experiments against COVID-19.
Studying the effect of various drugs on cultures of infected cells, Hong Kong molecular biologists and physicians, under the direction of Michael Chan, assistant professor of Chinese University of Hong Kong, discovered another similar drug. It can be more effective than all existing tools to combat SARS-CoV-2.
New cure for COVID-19
During the study, scientists treated cells with different doses of 11 popular antiviral drugs, already approved in the United States and other countries for the treatment of various infections. They monitored how the concentration of viral particles and viral RNA, as well as the number of viable cells, changed inside the tubes.
The experiments showed that only one of these substances, Simeprevir, was able to suppress the reproduction of the virus and not kill most of the cells. This drug was created at the beginning of the XXI century to combat the hepatitis C virus. Simeprevir molecules block the work of the enzyme, which is responsible for the assembly of new viral particles.
The experiments of Chan and his colleagues showed that at low concentrations, this substance was as effective as remdesivir. And in large doses, it was even more effective. Further experiments showed that the mixture of remdesivir and simeprevir acted on the virus even more efficiently, while not becoming more dangerous for healthy cells.
Scientists do not yet know exactly how simeprevir inhibits the reproduction of SARS-CoV-2. As their observation of the activity of virus genes in infected cells showed, the drug almost does not interfere with the work of proteins that are involved in the formation of new copies of coronavirus. Nevertheless, simeprevir somehow blocks this process and prevents the virus from multiplying.
According to scientists, this medicine can directly interact with the proteins that make up the viral particles, as well as block the work of various cellular enzymes that SARS-CoV-2 uses for reproduction. Chan and his colleagues hope that their subsequent experiments will help to learn the mechanism of Simeprevir and create analogues of this drug, less toxic to liver cells.
It should be added that the article was not reviewed by independent experts and editors of scientific journals, as is usually the case in such cases. Therefore, conclusions from it and similar articles should be treated with caution.
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