A new virus that causes severe breathing distress and kidney failure elicits a distinctive airway cell response to allow it to multiply. Scientists studying the Human Coronavirus-Erasmus Medical Center, which first appeared in April 2012 in the Middle East, have discovered helpful details about its stronghold tactics. The project was funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. The results appear in the April 30 issue of mBio, the journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Researchers' findings predict that certain currently available compounds might treat the infection. These could act, not by killing the virus directly, but by keeping lung cells from being forced to create a hospitable environment for the virus to reproduce. The researchers caution that their lab and computer predictions would need to be tested to see if the drugs work clinically.
Lead author Laurence Josset and his colleague obtained a rapid, comprehensive assessment of the new coronavirus's infective strategies by creating a global profile of how it disrupts gene transcription, the process by which DNA is copied into RNA for subsequent translation into proteins. They analyzed this extensive data with computer programs that predict which current drugs might be re-purposed to correct the body's virus-co-opted immune response. The method could have widespread applications in fighting future dangerous viruses. What this study highlights, Josset says, is the advantages of fast, automated analysis of the transcriptome (all the messenger RNAs transcribed from the genome) of the infected cells. Read the article.
