LATimes | The new coronavirus’ reputation for messing with scientists’ assumptions has taken a truly creepy turn.
Researchers
exploring the interaction between the coronavirus and its hosts have
discovered that when the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects a human cell, it sets
off a ghoulish transformation. Obeying instructions from the virus, the
newly infected cell sprouts multi-pronged tentacles studded with viral
particles.
These disfigured zombie cells appear to be using those
streaming filaments, or filopodia, to reach still-healthy neighboring
cells. The protuberances appear to bore into the cells’ bodies and
inject their viral venom directly into those cells’ genetic command
centers — thus creating another zombie.
The authors of the new
study, an international team led by researchers at UC San Francisco, say
the coronavirus appears to be using these newly sprouted dendrites to
boost its efficiency in capturing new cells and establishing infection
in its human victims.
Their research was published Friday in the journal Cell.
The
scientists also believe they have identified several drugs that could
disrupt the viral takeover of cells and slow the process by which
COVID-19 takes hold. These compounds, many of which were designed as
cancer treatments, seem likely to work because they block the chemical
signals that activate filopodia production in the first place.
Among the seven drugs they identified as potentially useful against COVID-19 are Silmitasertib, a still-experimental drug in early clinical trials as a treatment for bile duct cancer and a form of childhood brain cancer; ralimetinib, a cancer drug developed by Eli Lilly; and gilteritinib (marketed as Xospata), a drug in use already to treat acute myeloid leukemia.
