The potential therapy was derived from a banana protein.
A study published on January 13th, 2020 touted the development of a potential therapy that may be used to fight all known strains of the flu.
One week later, the first laboratory-confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 triggered the two-and-a-half-year-long COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
A study published in Cell Reports Medicine describes the effectiveness of H84T-BanLec against every coronavirus known to infect humans, including MERS, the original SARS, and SARS-CoV2, including the omicron variant. Markovitz is joined by two senior authors: Peter Hinterdorfer, Ph.D., of the Institute of Biophysics at Johannes Kepler University, and Kwok-Yung Yuen, MBBS, M.D., of the University of Hong Kong. Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan, M.D., of the University of Hong Kong, is the paper’s first author.
H84T-BanLec is derived from a lectin (a carbohydrate-binding protein) isolated from banana fruit. It accomplishes its remarkable viral-blocking abilities by binding to high-mannose glycans, polysaccharides that are present on the surface of the viruses, but only very rarely on normal healthy human cells. After binding, the virus cannot enter cells to infect them.
Using atomic force microscopy and related methods, the team confirmed that H84T develops multiple strong bonds with the spike protein, which, said Markovitz, probably explains why it’s hard for a coronavirus to be resistant to the lectin.
R&I~Smit
FadedJoke
Article URL : https://scitechdaily.com/new-banana-derived-therapy-is-effective-against-all-known-coronaviruses-and-flu-strains/