Urgent Treatment for Covid-19

Schematic of the SARS-CoV-2 spiked protein.

The binding of an engineered molecule (ACE2+Fc) leads to the clearance of SARS-CoV-2.

Published September 22, 2020

Overview

The human immune system has a capacity to fight off numerous infections, and there are worldwide efforts to combat COVID-19 through vaccine development. The Park lab, in collaboration with other labs at UB, is developing drugs to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and treat individuals with severe COVID-19 infection. The therapeutic strategy behind the study is to engineer novel protein molecules that can interact with the host immune apparatus and recruit immune cells and components to accelerate the clearance of free virus and infected host cells. These molecules are engineered by fusing the cellular target of SARS-CoV-2, ACE2, to the antibody fragment Fc. The molecules carry specialized mutations to improve the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, thus achieving rapid reduction in the viral load.