Synthetic SARS-CoV-2 can be used as antiviral therapy for COVID: Scientists

A new synthetic defective SARS-CoV-2, which can interfere with the growth of real novel coronavirus, can potentially lead to the extinction of the COVID-19 causing virus as well as the artificial one, a study has revealed. 

“In our experiments, we show that the wild-type (disease-causing) SARS-CoV-2 virus actually enables the replication and spread of our synthetic virus, thereby effectively promoting its own decline,” said Marco Archetti, associate professor at Pennsylvania State University in the US.

The researchers in the study explained that when a virus attacks a cell, it attaches to the cell’s surface and injects its genetic material into it. This tricks cells to reproduce the virus’s genetic material and making virions, which burst from the cell and infect other cells in the body. 

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Marco Archetti said, “A version of this synthetic construct could be used as a self-promoting antiviral therapy for COVID-19.”

The defective interfering (DI) viruses, like the synthetic defective SARS-CoV-2, contain large deletions in their genomes that affect their ability to reproduce their genetic material and package it into virions. 

However, DI viruses can only do this when the cell they infect has also harboured genetic material from a wild-type virus, the researchers said. 

Maron Archetti said, “These defective genomes are like parasites of the wild-type virus”, of which they hijack genome’s replication and packaging machinery. 

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The researchers said that the synthetic SARS-CoV-2 can replicate three times faster than the wild-type genome, thus, they can reduce the wild-type viral load in the body by half in 24 hours. The DI genome increases in quantity 3.3 times faster than the wild-type virus. 

The reduction in virus load by 50% in 24 hours may not be enough for therapeutic purposes, Marco Archetti said, as the DI genomes increase in frequency in the cell. 

However, the decline in the amount of wild-type virus would lead to the demise of both the virus and the DI genome, as the DI genome cannot persist once it has driven the wild-type virus to extinction, he added.

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The team said further researchs were needed to verify if the synthetic SARS-CoV-2 can be used as an antiviral treatment and against some of the newer variants of the coronavirus. 

In their follow-up research, which is still unpublished, the team has used nanoparticles as a delivery vector and observed that the virus declines by more than 95% in 12 hours.

“With some additional research and fine-tuning, a version of this synthetic DI could be used as a self-sustaining therapeutic for COVID-19,” Archetti added.