Researchers at the University of Louisville have joined the coronavirus treatment and prevention fray, announcing Wednesday they believe a technology they developed could block the virus from infecting human cells.
It's based on a piece of synthetic DNA (also known as an aptamer) which targets and binds with a human protein called nucleolin. Early research and experiments, led by researchers Paula Bates, John Trent, and Don Miller, indicate the aptamer may be effective at preventing the coronavirus from "hijacking" nucleolin to replicate inside the body at doses previously shown to be safe in patients. The Louisville team has applied the same aptamer in a variety of ways, and it has reportedly emerged as a potential therapeutic drug for multiple types of cancer.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
North Carolina Supreme Court risks undermining its legitimacyUnder the radar A contentious legal battle over whether to seat one of its own members threatens not only the future of the court's ideological balance, but its role in the public sphere
-
Codeword: January 14, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Sudoku hard: January 14, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
HMPV is spreading in China but there's no need to worryThe Explainer Respiratory illness is common in winter
-
Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDAIn the Spotlight What Johns Hopkins surgeon and commentator Marty Makary will bring to the FDA
-
California declares bird flu emergencySpeed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes riskSpeed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burgerSpeed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
-
Long Covid: study shows damage to brain's 'control centre'The Explainer Research could help scientists understand long-term effects of Covid-19 as well as conditions such as MS and dementia
