IIt may even be that these drugs reduce the severity of the disease by literally diverting the virus’s attention from the cells it seeks to infect.
Two studies published on March 24 and 30 in two of the most prestigious medical journals on the planet, JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine, come to the conclusion that there is no reason to believe, for the moment, that the antagonists of Angiotensin receptors (ARBs) and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors increase the risk of infection or the severity of symptoms.
Instead, the recombinant ACE2 enzyme could be used to cure infected patients by drawing the virus’s attention elsewhere.
Since the virus must bind to this enzyme to be able to infect cells, if the organism is flooded with this recombinant enzyme and the targets offered to it are multiplied, it will be less likely to bind. to enzymes that are on the surface of cells.
The image of a fighter jet scattering multiple rockets behind it to mislead the missile that is chasing it comes to mind.
Austrian biotechnology company Apeiron Biologics obtained approval from the Food and Drug Administration on April 2 to test the enzyme in patients with COVID-19, adds The Scientist.
This company was founded by Josef Penninger, a researcher from the University of British Columbia who is among the world’s leading authorities on ACE2.
In a study published April 2 by another leading medical journal, Cell, Penninger reports that the recombinant enzyme reduced the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 by a factor of 1,000 to 5,000 in an experimental model.
The use of ARBs to fight the virus could be even more promising, according to The Scientist. A study in China of some 500 patients found that those aged 65 and over who took these drugs were less likely to suffer significant lung damage than patients of the same age who did not take them.
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