Protein from cavemen could add protection in fight against coronavirus

A PROTEIN that came from cavemen more than 10,000 years ago could protect people from Covid-19, a study has found.

People with high levels of a protein called OAS1 in their blood are less likely to be hospitalised with severe coronavirus symptoms and die, scientists discovered.

OAS1 emerged through interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals thousands of years ago and can now be found in more than 30 percent of people of European descent.

A great deal of effort has gone into producing vaccines for coronavirus, but hundreds of millions of people have already been infected and how long the protection lasts remains a mystery.

The study’s author, Dr Brent Richards, of Mcgill University, in Quebec, Canada, said: “Our analysis shows evidence that OAS1 has a protective effect against Covid-19 susceptibility and severity.

“This is a very exciting development in the race to identify potential therapies to treat patients.”

Determining which proteins played a causal role in the virus’ progression was a challenge for the scientists.

But thanks to advances in “proteomic technology”, they were able to isolate and measure 931 circulating proteins at once.

Using genetic analyses known as Mendelian randomisation, they were then able to untangle which ones made the virus worse.

Patients who had high levels of OAS1 in their blood after recovering from Covid-19 had more protection against very severe symptoms, hospitalisation and susceptibility, the researchers found.

First author Dr Sirui Zhou said: “The protective effect was particularly large, such that we observed a 50 per cent decrease in the odds of very severe Covid-19 per standard deviation increase in OAS1 circulating levels.

“Interestingly, for non-african peoples, this protective effect is likely inherited from a Neanderthal derived form of OAS1 called p46.”

This form of OAS1 likely emerged in people of European ancestry through interbreeding with Neanderthals tens of thousands of years ago, according to the researchers.

As a result of evolutionary pressures, it is now detectable in more than 30% of people of European descent.

Researchers have now made a number of recommendations based on their findings, which were published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Dr Richards said: “Because drug development – even in the accelerated environment of pandemic research – takes time, it is particularly exciting that molecules that can increase OAS1 activity are currently in pre-clinical development for eventual deployment in clinical trials.

“Our recommendation is that those medications that trigger increased OAS1 levels be further studied for their effect on Covid-19 outcomes so that we may better treat infected patients.”