Peptides instead of antibodies
MIT has designed a peptide that effectively destroys the coronavirus
Georgy Golovanov, Hi-tech+
Experts from MIT applied computer modeling to develop a peptide that destroys the coronavirus. This substance can become a potential drug that prevents the reproduction of SARS-CoV-2 inside infected cells. Moreover, the peptide performs its work quickly and without any side effects for the body.
Scientists are currently developing many new therapeutic drugs against SARS-CoV-2. In particular, some are struggling to create antibodies to deactivate the spikes of the cornavirus, which it uses to penetrate the cell. There is another, similar approach – to use peptides instead of antibodies. He was chosen by the MIT team.
"Our idea was to use computational methods to develop a peptide that could become a therapeutic agent for Covid-19. Once such a peptide enters the cell, it can simply mark and decompose the virus," explains MIT News lead author of the study Pranam Chatterjee.
Using a computer model and CRISPR gene editing technology, they generated the desired peptide. As a starting point, they used the ACE2 protein, which is located on the surface of certain cells and connects to the spikes of the coronavirus. The prototype of the peptide broke ACE2 into small fragments, and a computer model predicted how these pieces would interact with the coronavirus spike proteins.
As a result, the scientists analyzed about 25 variants of the new peptide. The best of them destroyed about 20% of the receptor domain proteins in cells. To improve this indicator, they replaced some amino acids in the model. The optimization was successful, and the final impact factor rose to 50%.
One of the advantages of the new peptide is its size. It is so small that the entire chain, even fused with ubiquitin ligase, is about 200 amino acids in length. This means that the RNA or DNA encoding this peptide can be delivered to the cell by harmless adenoassociated viruses.
An alternative option is to allow the peptide to bind to the coronavirus spike protein outside the cells and enter the cells already with the virus. In this case, the virus will be marked for destruction as soon as it enters the cell, Chatterjee promises.
Now scientists are going to test a new peptide in human cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. If successful, preclinical tests on animal models will begin.
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