EXPERTS TARGET POCKET IN SPIKE PROTEIN TO WEAKEN COVID-19 VIRUS

The spike protein on the novel coronavirus that helps it break into healthy cells has a tiny "pocket" that could make it vulnerable to antiviral drugs, researchers in the United Kingdom have discovered.

Using a powerful imaging technique called electron cryo-microscopy, they studied the molecular structure of the virus and found the pocket, with a small molecule, linoleic acid (LA), buried inside.

LA molecules are critical to the immune functions "that go haywire in COVID-19," coauthor Imre Berger from the Max Planck-Bristol Center for Minimal Biology in the UK told Nancy Lapid of Reuters on September 24, 2020. "And the virus that is causing all this chaos, according to our data, grabs and holds on to exactly this molecule - basically disarming much of the body's defenses."

In a paper published on Monday in Science, researchers note that common-cold-causing rhinoviruses have a similar pocket, and drugs that fit into the pocket by mimicking fatty acids like LA have lessened symptoms in human clinical trials. This suggests, they say, that drugs developed to target the pocket on the coronavirus spike protein might help eliminate COVID-19.

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