Ravi Kant, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the Department of Tropical Parasitology of the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine at the Medical University of Gdańsk, is a co-author of an international scientific paper published in Nature Communications. The study was carried out in cooperation with teams from the University of Queensland in Australia, the University of Helsinki in Finland, and Imperial College London in the United Kingdom.
The researchers developed and investigated a strategy that does not target the virus directly, but rather a process taking place in the infected cell. They used the experimental compound IMP1088, which blocks the activity of the human enzyme NMT1, responsible for attaching a lipid molecule to selected cellular proteins. This process is important, among other functions, for the proper transport of material within the cell, including through the Golgi apparatus.
Blocking NMT1 affects the way in which newly formed coronavirus particles leave the infected cell. They bypass the Golgi apparatus, as a result of which their spike protein is not properly processed. Consequently, most of the released virus particles lose the ability to infect further cells.
This effect was observed in human lung cells, nasal epithelial cultures derived from adult donors, and brain organoids. A similar effect was demonstrated for several variants of SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The authors of the paper indicate that targeting the host cell, rather than the virus directly, may make it more difficult for resistance to develop. This approach also creates the possibility of developing a single solution active against different viruses causing respiratory tract infections.
The research has so far been conducted at the laboratory level. As the authors emphasise, further studies are needed, including clinical trials involving patients, in order to assess the safety and efficacy of this strategy and its potential future use in the treatment of viral infections.
