A human genetic mechanism hijacked by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, to help it spread also makes it vulnerable to a new class of drug candidates, a new study finds.
Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a research team showed that coronavirus reproduction in infected human cells requires chemical changes made by the human protein METTL3 to RNA, a key form of genetic material. Additional human proteins involved in the recognition of modified RNA, YTHDF1 and YTHDF3, were also found to be important to the process.
Published online in Genes and Development on June 24, the study showed for the first time that a molecular inhibitor of METTL3, designed by Storm Therapeutics Ltd and called STM2457, dramatically reduced in cell cultures the replication of both pandemic SARS-CoV-2 and, a less severe, seasonal coronavirus, HCoV-OC43, one cause of the common cold.
Yeah well, Leatherface killed her once already, but LOOK! She’s Red-faced. Oh, Bubba’s been playing with her, Bubba likes her. Bubba’s got a girlfriend!
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986) dir. Tobe Hooper
