On the way for an active agent against hepatitis E
A compound called K11777 prevents body cells from splitting the viral capsid and thus helping the virus out of its capsid. This means that infection is no longer possible.
Credit: © RUB, Marquard
In order to infect an organ, viruses need the help of the host cells. “An effective approach is therefore to identify targets in the host that can be manipulated by drugs so that they no longer perform this helper function,” explains Mara Klöhn.
The researchers became aware of the compound K11777 in a roundabout way: During a control study conducted as part of cell culture studies on the hepatitis C virus with a known active ingredient, they discovered that this active ingredient was also effective against hepatitis E. “However, the drug wasn’t using the same pathway as with the hepatitis C virus, because the hepatitis E virus doesn’t have the target structure that this active substance attacks,” explains Mara Klöhn. This suggested that the drug may have an effect on host cells instead.
The research team narrowed down the possible target structures and turned their attention to cathepsins, which can process proteins, i.e. cleave them. K11777 inhibits many cathepsin types, i.e. blocks their function. Tests in cell culture with human liver cells showed that the compound actually prevents infection with hepatitis E viruses. “In follow-up experiments, we proved our hypothesis that the compound prevents cathepsin L from cleaving and opening up the viral capsid,” says Mara Klöhn. “This means that the virus can no longer infect host cells.”
Hepatitis E
The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the main cause of acute viral hepatitis. Approximately 70,000 people die from the disease every year. After the first documented epidemic outbreak between 1955 and 1956, more than 50 years passed before researchers began to address the issue in depth. Acute infections usually clear up spontaneously in patients with an intact immune system. In patients with a reduced or suppressed immune system, such as organ transplant recipients or people infected with HIV, HEV can become chronic. HEV also poses a serious threat to pregnant women. There aren’t any vaccines nor specific active substances against the virus.
Journal: Hepatology
DOI: 10.1097/HEP.0000000000000912
Method of Research: Experimental study
Subject of Research: Cells
Article Title: Targeting Cellular Cathepsins Inhibits Hepatitis E Virus Entry
Article Publication Date: 11-May-2024
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine
This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.
Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.
Newest articles
Logic with light
Introducing diffraction casting, optical-based parallel computing. Increasingly complex applications such as artificial intelligence require ever more powerful and power-hungry computers to run. Optical computing is a proposed solution to increase…
A chip-based tractor beam for biological particles
The tiny device uses a tightly focused beam of light to capture and manipulate cells. MIT researchers have developed a miniature, chip-based “tractor beam,” like the one that captures the…
A new era of solar observation
International team produces global maps of coronal magnetic field. For the first time, scientists have taken near-daily measurements of the Sun’s global coronal magnetic field, a region of the Sun…
