Deworming compound effective against Covid-19

A team has identified, in laboratory tests, four substances capable of preventing the reproduction of SARS-CoV-2 within cells The promising compound is used to treat deworming worm Singlewith which a clinical trial is being conducted.

researchers from Charité University Hospital, from BerlinAnd the Bonn University Published in “Nature Communications” a study on how the virus that causes COVID-19 It reprograms the metabolism of the cells it infects, to take advantage of them.

The study identified four substances that inhibit the reproduction of the virus, of which there are in the experimental stage against cancer The other is used against It wasAlso known as tapeworm.

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In in vitro cell culture tests, the team found that the most pronounced antiviral effect was associated with niclosamide, reducing the production of infectious SARS-CoV-2 particles by more than 99%.

Marcel Muller, one of the study’s authors, from Charité, noted that its use against tapeworm infection in humans has long been tolerated and is well tolerated at “potentially relevant” doses.

The team considers this substance to be “the most promising” so they are conducting a clinical study to see if it “could also have a positive effect on people with Covid-19.”

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Of the other substances analyzed in the clinical trial phase to test their tolerability and efficacy against various types of cancer and in laboratory tests, they reduced virus production by about 90%.

The other two polyamine, The spermidine and the spearmen. The former is found naturally in foods such as wheat germ oh no soy It reduced the number of virus particles produced by 85%.

The semen naturally present in the body reduces the virus multiplication In more than 90% in human lung cells and in a model of the human intestine it consists of groups of cells known as organelles.

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The team works with pure forms of both substances, which are not suitable for medical use, and there are still “many questions to be answered before polyamines can be considered as a potential treatment against the coronavirus,” according to the team in a statement from the US State Department Charité University Hospital.

However, the authors consider these findings a good starting point for research using animal models.

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