A drug that has been used to treat cancer for more than a decade could treat people with covid-19, according to new research.
A drug called pralatrexate is a chemotherapy drug originally designed to treat lymphomas – tumors that grow out of the glands.
Chinese researchers have found praltrexate outperforms remedesivir, an anti-viral drug currently used to treat Covid-19 patients.
U.S. Despite being a toxic drug by the Food and Drug Administration, Platrexate was approved in 2009 for patients with terminal disease.
Adverse effects of pralatrexate include fatigue, nausea, and mucositis – inflammation and ulcers of the mucous membrane lining the digestive tract.
However, there are many possibilities for reintroducing praletrexate in a way that eliminates its side effects, according to the researchers.
Our lurified scanning electron micrograph of the infected apoptotic cell (pink) from the SARS-COV-2 virus particles (green) released from the patient’s sample. Pralatrexate, a chemotherapy drug originally designed to treat lymphoma, could potentially be revived for the treatment of Covid-19.
The authors of the study, led by Dr. Hipping Zhang at China’s Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology at G, say, “Identifying effective drugs that can treat covid-19 is important and urgent, especially approved drugs that can be tested in clinical trials.” . ‘
‘Our study has found that prelatrexate is potentially able to inhibit SARS-Covy-2 replication in the same experimental conditions with stronger inhibitory activity than remodeciver.’
Following the global outbreak of Covid-19, researchers were inspired by the idea of reintroducing existing drugs originally designed to treat other conditions.
Ramdesivir was initially developed to treat hepatitis C and was later reintroduced as a potential Ebola treatment, due to the similarity of Saras-CV-2 in the composition of the virus to the virus that causes Covid-19, experts hope. Can help. Fight the current epidemic
Artificial intelligence can help identify such drugs as how different drugs will interact with the virus that causes SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19.
To assist in the virtual screening of existing drugs, Zhang and colleagues combined multiple computational techniques that simulate drug-virus interactions.
They used this hybrid approach for 1,906 existing drugs for their potential ability to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 by targeting a viral protein called RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP).
RDRP is an essential protein encoded in the genes of all RNA viruses, such as SRS-CoV-2.
Four promising drugs were identified from the novel screening approach, which was then tested against SARS-Covy-2 in lab experiments.
Two drugs, proletraxate and azithromycin, successfully inhibit virus replication.
Subsequent laboratory experiments showed that prelatrexate inhibited viral replication more strongly than rimdasivir, suggesting that a previous potential for covid may arise.
However, this chemotherapy drug may indicate significant side effects and, as it is used for people with terminal lymphoma, there is no guarantee of immediate use for Covid-19 patients.
Despite this, these findings support the use of new screening strategies to identify which drugs can be tweaked, according to the team.
“We have demonstrated the value of our novel hybrid approach that combines deep-learning techniques with a more traditional simulation of nuclear dynamics,” said Da Wezhang.
Researchers who have published their work in PLOS Computational Biology are now developing additional computational methods to generate novel molecular structures that could be developed into new drugs for the treatment of Covid-19.
The study follows some general skepticism about the efficacy of RediVire, which was initially developed to treat hepatitis C and has since been revived as a potential Ebola treatment.
After disappointing results from treating Ebola in 2014, remediators were tested in the early stages of this year’s epidemic.
Although clinical trials show mixed results, there is no consensus on whether it is effective.
The NHSA has approved it for use in Kovid-19 patients in the hope that it can help, but is already being forced to ration the drug, which costs 2, 2,400 ($ 3,120) per course.
In November, the World Health Organization (WHO) said doctors should not treat coronavirus patients with remedivisor “regardless of how sick they are.”
Officials said at the time that ‘there is no evidence’ that this would increase the chances of people avoiding the disease or prevent them from falling ill due to the need for mechanical ventilation. ‘
They also warned that there is a ‘potential harm potential’ when using the experimental Ebola drug as it damages the kidneys and liver in some patients.
However, in December, a team of British experts reported in Nature Communications that remedesivir could be a very effective Covid-19 treatment for ‘some patients’.
It helped cure a 31-year-old patient who suffered a rare reaction to the disease, due to a genetic disorder called XLA, which prevented him from making antibodies to fight the infection.
Dr. James, study author of the MRC Toxicology Unit at Cambridge University. “There have been various studies to support or question the effectiveness of remedesivir, but some of those conducted during the first wave of infection may not be the best to evaluate its antiviral properties,” said study author from Cambridge University’s MRC Toxicology Unit. Dr. James. .
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