Scientists have decoded the molecular responses of lung cells to corona virus infection. (Representative)
Boston:
Scientists have decoded a chain of molecular responses of human lung cells that are infected with the corona virus novel, which is a precursor to help identify clinically approved drugs intended for re-treatment of COVID-19.
The study, published in the journal Molecular Cell, evaluated embossed cells in the air sacs of the human lung using precise mass spectroscopy technology that can classify the molecules present in the samples.
Based on the analysis, scientists at the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in the United States have identified the pathways of proteins and molecules in lung cells that are infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The researchers hope the findings will provide insight into the pathology and new treatment goals for the prevention of COVID-19.
They found that an important type of protein called “phosphorylation” is altered in these lung cells.
According to the study, the phosphorylation of proteins plays an important role in regulating protein activity within the cells of an organism.
It noted that in the case of healthy cells both protein and protein phosphorylation are generally highly regulated processes.
However, scientists have found that SARS-CoV-2 disrupts lung cells, causing abnormal changes in protein levels and the frequency of protein phosphorylation within these cells.
These abnormal changes, scientists say, help the virus multiply – eventually destroying cells and spreading to lung injury.
After infection, researchers begin to exploit the vital resources of the corona virus cell, which are essential for the normal growth and function of the cell.
“The virus uses these resources to multiply while avoiding the body’s immune system attack. In this way new viruses are formed, which then leave the exhausted and brutally damaged lung cell, and they become self – destructive,” said co-author Andrew Emily. From BUSM.
“These new viruses infect other cells, where the same cycle occurs again,” Emily explained.
In the study, scientists examined lung alveolar cells one to 24 hours after SARS-CoV-2 infection, to immediately understand what changes are occurring in these cells – one, three and six hours after SARS-CoV-2 infection – and then what changes Occur – within 24 hours after infection.
“Compared to normal / unaffected lung cells, SARS-CoV-2 infected lung cells have shown dramatic changes in thousands of protein and phosphorylation events,” said Darrell Cotton, co-author and pathologist and professor of the study. Laboratory medicine in BUSM.
“Furthermore, our data show that the SARS-CoV-2 virus triggers a significant number of these changes within an hour post-infection and lays the foundation for complete transmission of host lung cells,” said another co-author, LK Muhlberger.
Researchers have also identified at least 18 pre-clinically approved drugs that were originally developed for other medical conditions that may be reversible for use in COVID-19 therapy.
They hope that further studies may shed light on the potential of these drugs to inhibit the proliferation of the corona virus novel in human lung cells.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an integrated feed.)