Peptide Drug May Help In The Treatment Of Covid-Related Heart Damage
Although vaccines are available to fight the coronavirus, scientists are working around the clock to find another way to halt the Covid-19 virus and its complications. They're looking at existing and experimental medicines as well as developing new ones to stop the virus from spreading from person to person. The coronavirus can also cause heart damage and affect heart function.
According to John Hopkins, Covid-19 binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) receptors on cardiac cells before entering them. High amounts of inflammation circulating in the body can potentially cause heart damage. The inflammatory process that occurs while the body's immune system battles the virus can harm certain healthy tissues, including the heart. Coronavirus infection affects the inner walls of veins and arteries, causing blood vessel inflammation, damage to extremely tiny capillaries, and blood clots, all of which can obstruct blood flow to the heart and other areas of the body.
Experimental Drug May Prevent Heart Damage Caused By Covid-19
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge has discovered a new medication that could help prevent heart damage caused by COVID-19. They used human embryonic stem cells to grow heart cells in the lab to better understand how the virus infects heart cells. Importantly, these model cardiac cells also had the critical components required for SARS-CoV-2 infection, including the ACE2 receptor.
The study published in Communications Biology discovered an experimental peptide medication named DX600 that can inhibit the virus from accessing the cardiac cells using the model. Dr Sanjay Sinha from the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute says, "Using stem cells, we've managed to create a model which, in many ways, behaves just like a heart does, beating in rhythm. This has allowed us to look at how the coronavirus infects cells and, importantly, helps us screen possible drugs that might prevent damage to the heart."
How Does The Drug Work?
The researchers discovered that medicines that target proteins involved in SARS-CoV-2 viral entry lowered infection levels considerably. DX600 is an ACE2 peptide antagonist, a chemical that targets ACE2 and blocks the activity of peptides that help the virus break into the cell. When compared to the antibody, DX600 was roughly seven times more efficient at preventing infection, albeit the researchers believe this is due to the fact that it was used in higher quantities. The medicine had no effect on the number of cardiac cells, indicating that it was not harmful.
Professor Anthony Davenport from the Department of Medicine and a fellow at St Catharine's College, Cambridge says, "The spike protein is like a key that fits into the 'lock' on the surface of the cells -- the ACE-2 receptor -- allowing it entry. DX600 acts like gum, jamming the lock's mechanism, making it much more difficult for the key to turn and unlock the cell door."
"But it could provide us with a new treatment to help reduce harm to the heart in patients recently infected with the virus, particularly those who already have underlying heart conditions or who have not been vaccinated," he added, "but it could provide us with a new treatment to help reduce harm to the heart in patients recently infected with the virus, particularly those who already have underlying heart conditions or who have not been vaccinated." It may also "assist in the reduction of long-term Covid symptoms."