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How does the new coronavirus invade human cells?
And cholesterol -related.
Scientists from Princeton University, Harvard Medical School and other research institutions have discovered that cholesterol is indeed the reason why the new coronavirus can further "rage" in the human body.
The envelope of the new coronavirus uses cholesterol to "fused" with the cell membrane to invade human cells.
After testing the effects of more than 6,000 compounds, scientists confirmed that the new coronavirus does need cholesterol to help "invade" cells, thereby forming huge virus-containing fusion cells.
What exactly is going on?
Using cholesterol, viruses "infiltrate" cells
In the lungs of patients with the new coronavirus, scientists first observed unusually large cells.
How did this cell appear?
The scientists first restored the specific process by which the new coronavirus enters cells and infects the human body. (The virus enters the cell by fusing itself to the cell membrane)
First, they observed that the ACE2 protein on the surface of human cells (purple) extended tiny "tentacles" to the spike protein on the surface of the virus (green).
After a while, the two cells began to fuse and the virus envelope began to "melt."
Finally, human cells begin to wrap the virus and gradually "absorb" the latter.
After this, the cells will continue to "phagocytose" each other, thus forming even larger cells, the so-called "syncytia."
After observing this process, scientists began to try to disrupt this cell fusion.
They tested the effects of about 6000 compounds and made more than 30 adjustments to viral spike proteins.
After comparing and analyzing the results, scientists found that if the envelope of the new coronavirus lacks cholesterol, the virus will not be able to enter human cells as above.
Stop cell fusion at the source
In fact, scientists have previously discovered that certain cholesterol-lowering drugs can help reduce the symptoms of new crowns.
On July 14, 2020, the Hebrew University of Israel and the Mount Sinai Medical Center in the United States announced that an existing cholesterol-lowering drug, fenofibrate , can inhibit the replication of the new crown virus in laboratory research and help For the treatment of patients with new crown.
At that time, researchers observed that the new coronavirus would hinder the regular consumption of carbohydrates, causing fat accumulation in lung cells, providing conditions for the virus to replicate itself.
However, no scientist can complete the experimental proof. The most important reason is that cholesterol-lowering statins can not only weaken the cholesterol of the influenza virus, but also change the immune response.
After that, a team from UC San Diego found that when the body produces an immune response to the virus, a compound that consumes cholesterol is produced, but this compound comes from the cell's own cell membrane.
In other words, it is not clear what the virus has to do with cholesterol.
And this discovery finally solved the mystery.
The reason why cholesterol-lowering drugs help alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19 is that the cholesterol on the virus envelope is usually "made" using substances in the host cell membrane.
The virus uses the produced cholesterol to "cheat" the receptors on the surface of the human cell membrane, and then "invade" the human cells through this method, and then continue to synthesize in the host cell.
In this way, the new coronavirus continues to let somatic cells "phagocytose each other", allowing the substances in these cells to mix together.
This is also the fundamental reason why the new coronavirus can cause "giant cells" in the lungs.
Lipid targeted therapy can destroy the process of fusion between the virus envelope and the human cell membrane. Fundamentally speaking, it reduces the ratio of cholesterol.
This discovery helps scientists discover new ways to fight the new coronavirus.
Can't generalize on cholesterol
So, is the less cholesterol in the body the better?
actually not.
Cholesterol is a lipid originally present in the blood and an essential component of the brain and cell membranes . Cholesterol is also needed for arterial healing, synthesis of vitamins and bile, and forming the skin barrier.
So why does cholesterol cause clogged arteries and heart disease?
In fact, this is due to LDL (low-density lipoprotein) formed by the combination of cholesterol and certain apolipoproteins, which accumulate in blood vessels and cause arteriosclerosis.
But at the same time, LDL has an important immune function.
Therefore, the pros and cons of cholesterol cannot be generalized, let alone taking cholesterol-lowering drugs at will because of this conclusion.
team introduction
This time the team comes from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is one of the largest privately funded organizations in the United States to fund biological and medical research, second only to the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute.
The scientists who made the results of this research together came from Princeton University, Boston University, University of Virginia, and Harvard Medical School.
Paper address:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.14.422737v1.full
Reference link:
https://phys.org/news/2021-01-sars-cov-cholesterol-invade-cells-mega.html
- Ends -
This article is the original content of the NetEase News•NetEase Featured Content Incentive Program account [qubit]. Unauthorized reprinting is prohibited.
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