The team of researchers also succeeded in blocking the virus from interacting with the cell, thus preventing infection.
This discovery, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, raises hopes of developing an antiviral, in the form of an aerosol, which would eradicate the virus in the event of infection or high-risk contact, UCLouvain underlines.
For the past two years, the team, led by David Alsteens, researcher at the Institute of Biomolecular Sciences and Technologies of UCLouvain, has been working to understand the precise mechanisms, at the molecular level, of a cell infection.
In short, they investigated the interaction between sialic acids, a sugar residue present on the surface of cells, and the spike protein of Covid-19. It was already known that the sugar residues have the function of promoting the cell’s recognition, thus allowing viruses to identify their targets more easily.
Researchers have now identified a variant of these sugars that interacts more strongly with the spike protein than other sugars. By blocking the attachment points of the spike protein and therefore eliminating any interaction with the cell surface, the researchers found that the virus dies, preventing an infection. This can be done with any virus, no matter the mutation, the published paper states.
Tests will now continue on mice to observe whether it works on the organism. Should the results be positive, an antiviral could be developed soon.
