"Golden Bullet" against covid?
The first drug for the treatment of Covid-19 showed an effectiveness of 99.9%
Vasily Parfenov, Naked Science
Specialists from Griffith University (Queensland, Australia) and the Beckman Research Institute (California, USA) have been working on the creation of the drug since the spring of 2020. An article describing the development and the results of the first laboratory tests was published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell (Idris et al., A SARS-CoV-2 targeted siRNA-nanoparticle therapy for COVID-19). From a biotechnological point of view, this is a completely new type of medicine. It is based on the recently discovered principles of antiviral protection of living organisms and can be adapted to a variety of infectious agents.
In general terms, the so-far unnamed drug is literally a self-guided munition for the destruction of viral RNA. Lipid nanoparticles are injected into the body of an infected animal. They are carried by the bloodstream through the body and do not show any activity in healthy cells. However, if they encounter the genetic material of the target virus on their way, its structure is fatally damaged. As a result, the pathogen does not multiply and the disease recedes.
The scheme of LNP-siRNA operation in an infected cell. A drawing from an article in Cell.
The technology is based on small interfering RNAs (miRNAs, siRNAs) discovered in 1999. This is a whole class of small double-stranded macromolecules of ribonucleic acid. As a rule, they consist of only 20-25 nucleotides and for a long time their function was not completely clear. In subsequent studies, it turned out that the role of miRNA is to interact with the matrix RNA (mRNA) of a target gene. As a result of this process, interference occurs and mRNA degrades, that is, gene expression stops. Matrix RNA does not get on ribosomes, translation does not occur – the protein encoded by it is not produced.
In fact, this is a universal mechanism for "turning off" any fragment of the genome without damaging DNA, as the main carrier of hereditary information. Plants and animals use it, among other things, to protect against viruses. Suppression of the expression of specific genes has long been an issue of interest to scientists, so the discovery of such a natural tool has become a real gift. Now, as you can see, Australian and American specialists have learned how to apply it in practice. And this is a truly promising discovery.
In experiments with laboratory animals – mice, – LNP-siRNA ("packed in lipid nanoparticles of miRNA") successfully penetrated into their lungs and destroyed 99.9% of the viral RNA. This drug cannot even theoretically seriously harm the body: small interfering RNAs bind only to the target RNAs of the virus, and there are none in healthy cells. The developers of the drug can't wait for the start of clinical trials. If we manage to do everything as quickly as possible, the medicine will begin to arrive in hospitals in 2023.
One of the advantages of lipid nanoparticles is their high resistance to storage conditions. At room temperature, they retain their integrity for more than a month, and in a conventional refrigerator (4 degrees Celsius) they can be kept for a year without deterioration of properties. Well, the LNP-siRNA platform itself potentially adapts to a variety of RNA viruses. No, HIV and hepatitis B will not be defeated this way (these are DNA viruses). But the severe forms of all kinds of flus, colds and coronaviruses of all colors and colors in the near future will be absolutely not terrible to humanity.
The creation of such a drug in such a short time is truly a great progress. It may seem that 2023 is far away, but specific drugs are sometimes being developed and tested for 5-10 years. If LNP-siRNA proves to be safe during clinical trials, it will not be possible to wait for widespread vaccination to stop the pandemic. And severe Covid-19 patients will have a chance not only to relieve symptoms (which most recommended antiviral drugs do), but also to receive full-fledged targeted therapy.
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