POTENTIAL NEW COVID-FIGHTING MEDICINE IDENTIFIED IN SEA SPONGES AND BACTERIA
The newly-discovered substances are effective against the Delta variant and several Omicron variants
hree compounds that effectively fight COVID-19 infection in human cells have been discovered by researchers based at the University of British Columbia.
One, alotaketal C, was derived from a sea sponge collected in Howe Sound, British Columbia, while the others, bafilomycin D and holyrine A, were derived from marine bacteria found in Barkley Sound, British
TColumbia, and Newfoundland. The discovery suggests that there could be a wealth of COVID-19 medicines waiting to be discovered from natural sources.
The team made the discovery after investigating the COVID-fighting properties of more than 350 compounds derived from natural sources, including plants, fungi and sea sponges, collected from around the world over the last 40 years.
They bathed human lung cells in solutions made from each of the compounds, then exposed them to a version of the SARSCoV-2 virus that causes cells to glow fluorescent green when infected.
They found that 26 of the compounds completely reduced viral infection in the cells and that three of them were still able to do so in very small doses.
Further testing showed that those three compounds were effective against the Delta variant and several Omicron variants. This is important in the continuing fight against COVID-19, as many current treatments are less effective against Omicron variants.
“The advantage of these compounds is that they are targeting the [infected] cells, rather than the virus, blocking the virus from replicating and helping the cell to recover,” said co-first author Dr Jimena Pérez-Vargas, a research associate in the department of microbiology and immunology.
“Human cells evolve more slowly than viruses, so these compounds could work against future variants [of COVID-19] and other viruses such as influenza if they use the same mechanisms,” she added.
The researchers now plan to test the compounds in animal models.
“Our research is also paving the way for large-scale testing of natural product medicines that can block infection associated with other respiratory viruses of great concern in Canada and around the world, such as influenza A and RSV,” said senior author Dr François Jean, associate professor in the department of microbiology and immunology.