Inhaler to treat virus on the horizon, claim researchers

AN INHALER may soon be available that stops coronavirus taking hold by altering genetic data in the lungs.

The device sends nanoparticles into the lungs that contain “molecular scissors” to snip off genetic messages that instruct the body to produce an enzyme called cathepsin L, which enables coronavirus and other respiratory infections to enter host cells and reproduce.

Without it, viruses struggle to take root, and scientists are hopeful that the inhaler could be used in the days before, or after, risky events such as plane journeys or weddings.

“We are studying whether the treatment could be administered via an aerosol, so people may carry an inhaler to big sporting events or long plane rides, taking a puff before or shortly after to reduce their risk,” said Prof Qianben Wang, of the pathology department at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.

“Our results suggest that the technology represents a unique strategy for controlling a coronavirus infection and should be pursued as a potential approach for treating Covid.”

The therapy has been tested successfully on animals, and researchers at the university are hopeful they can begin human trials “in the near future”.

The treatment harnesses a natural defence mechanism used by bacteria called Crispr (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) that enables microbes to destroy organisms by targeting specific areas of their DNA. In this case, messenger RNA – molecules that carry the DNA instructions to cells, where they are acted upon – is altered, rather than DNA.

Targeting messenger molecules means that the therapy is less long-lived than if it directly tweaked genes, so it has no long-lasting impact on the body. Its effects are likely to disappear within a few days.

And as the therapy does not depend on recognising specific viruses, it should work for all variants of coronavirus, as well as other coronaviruses, such as the common cold and Mers.

The study’s authors, whose work was published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, believe it could also be used as a treatment to lower the amount of virus in the body and prevent a deadly immune overreaction.

Prof Wang added: “This nanosystem can be easily adapted in the future to target infection by other DNA viruses such as hepatitis B.