Scientists say eye-disease drug may also help fight COVID

FINDINGSAn interdisciplinary research team led by UCLA found that a drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for eye disease, verteporfin, stopped the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Their laboratory study identified  the Hippo signaling pathway as a potential target for therapies against the coronavirus.BACKGROUNDMany important human biological processes are controlled by complicated chain reactions called signaling pathways, in which certain proteins act as messenger molecules that promote or block the signals of other proteins.The lead researchers were investigating the Hippo pathway, which controls the size of organs in the body, in earlier National Institutes of Health –funded studies of the Zika virus, which can cause undersized brains in infants. Noticing that this pathway also seemed to have virus-fighting effects, they launched the current study investigating SARS-CoV-2.METHODThe scientists performed experiments using tissue samples from people with COVID-19, as well as cultured human heart and lung cells selected to closely reflect how healthy cells respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection. They observed changes in many genes involved with the Hippo signaling pathway after infection. In addition, they examined aprotein called YAP, or Yes-associated protein,whose activity is blocked when the Hippo pathway is activated.The scientists found that in the cultured human cells, both the original strain and Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 a...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news