A novel decoy protein designed by Northwestern Medicine scientists fools SARS-Cov-2 by intercepting the spike of the coronavirus and rendering it impotent.
The novel protein significantly reduced lung damage and resulted in only mild symptoms in mice infected with SARS-Cov-2, while untreated animals in this model all succumbed to the infection.
“We envision this soluble ACE2 protein will attenuate the entry of coronavirus into cells in the body mainly in the respiratory system and, consequently, the serious symptoms seen in severe COVID 19,” said lead investigator Dr. Daniel Batlle, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. “We have converted a lethal disease to a milder lung disease that is fully reversible. The protein could be complimentary to other potential treatments or effective alone.”
The protein is a variant of ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme-2), the receptor the coronavirus uses to enter and infect human cells. The modified protein intercepts the S spike of the coronavirus and fools it into binding to it rather than the real ACE2 receptor in cell membranes.
