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A human genetic mechanism hijacked by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, to help it spread also makes it vulnerable to a new class of drug candidates, a new study finds.
Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a research team showed that coronavirus reproduction in infected human cells requires chemical changes made by the human protein METTL3 to RNA, a key form of genetic material. Additional human proteins involved in the recognition of modified RNA, YTHDF1 and YTHDF3, were also found to be important to the process.
Published online in
Genes and Development on June 24, the study showed for the first time that a molecular inhibitor of METTL3, designed by Storm Therapeutics Ltd and called STM2457, dramatically reduced in cell cultures the replication of both pandemic SARS-CoV-2 and, a less severe, seasonal coronavirus, HCoV-OC43, one cause of the common cold.
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NEW YORK, May 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Researchers have discovered new ways in which the COVID-19 virus causes human immune cells to overreact, a deadly part of the disease.
Led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, the new study found that SARS-CoV-2, the pandemic virus, interacts with specific proteins on immune cells, causing these cells to release abnormally high levels of immune signaling proteins called cytokines (a cytokine storm ). These cytokines, in turn, cause fluid buildup in the lungs and makes it hard to breathe.