It will increase therapeutic targets for broad-spectrum COVID-19 drugs. Chinese scientists found COVID-19 New Host Factor Team | COVID-19 | Host
Recently, the team led by Peng Xiaozhong, Lu Shuaiyao, Hu Yunzhang, and Shi Jiandong from the Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, published their latest research in the sub issue of Science Progress. The team found that aromatic hydrocarbon receptors are host factors and potential therapeutic targets of COVID-19, which will provide new potential therapeutic targets for screening broad-spectrum anti coronavirus drugs.
The research team introduced that in the process of the epidemic and evolution of COVID-19, a variety of variants emerged constantly, posing a serious challenge to global public health. At the same time, the complete pathogenesis of COVID-19 remains to be studied, especially the key cells and molecules at the early stage of virus infection have not been deciphered. Effective and specific antiviral drugs against COVID-19 are still limited. In order to deal with the emerging variants, find the therapeutic targets of broad-spectrum anti COVID-19 variants, and develop broad-spectrum COVID-19 therapeutic drugs will become the key to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aromatic hydrocarbon receptors are sensing tryptophan metabolites and are immune regulatory molecules. Previously, the role of aromatic hydrocarbon receptors in COVID-19 infection and whether they can be used as antiviral therapeutic targets for COVID-19 and its variants was unclear. The research team found that COVID-19 infection activated the aromatic hydrocarbon receptor signal, and pharmacological aromatic hydrocarbon receptor blocking or "gene knockout" of the receptor reduced the replication of COVID-19 and its variants.
![It will increase therapeutic targets for broad-spectrum COVID-19 drugs. Chinese scientists found COVID-19 New Host Factor Team | COVID-19 | Host](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/1819c69406c697926a2f0491ab2155c0.jpg)
In addition, the research team used aromatic hydrocarbon receptor antagonists to target this receptor, which significantly reduced the replication of COVID-19 and its variants in hamsters, and reversed the lung inflammation of hamsters caused by COVID-19 infection. Therefore, research results show that aromatic hydrocarbon receptors are host dependent factors of COVID-19 and candidate targets for antiviral therapy against COVID-19 and its variants. It is worth noting that the activation of host cell aromatic hydrocarbon receptors and downstream signal pathway gene expression after coronavirus infection is not a unique feature of COVID-19, and this phenomenon has also been observed in other coronaviruses.
The research team stated that aromatic hydrocarbon receptors are potential host dependent factors for broad-spectrum coronavirus, providing a potential target for screening broad-spectrum anti coronavirus drugs. At present, antiviral drugs targeting viral protein RNA polymerase and 3CL protease face many problems such as susceptibility to drug resistance. Finding host based antiviral targets is also an important approach to solving the problem of viral resistance.