SAN DIEGO, California A promising technology slowed the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in cell cultures, researchers at the University of California San Diego and Boston University found in lab experiments.
The United States led the world in coronavirus cases with 2.7 million confirmed Thursday, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
Engineers at UC-San Diego coated tiny nanoparticles made of polymer with lung and white blood cell membranes, disguising them as human cells to the virus.
The membranes covering the nanoparticles had the same external receptors and proteins that the virus uses to enter the human lung and white blood cells. The nanoparticles fooled the SARS-CoV-2 virus into thinking they were human cells and the virus bound onto them. Once attached to the nanoparticles, the virus could no longer enter a human cell or reproduce.
These lung cells and white blood cell nanoparticles blocked almost 90 percent of the virus ability to enter human cells, reproduce and create more virus in lab dish experiments, researchers out of UC San Diego and Boston University published last month in Nano Letters.
Nanoparticles were first masked as human cells, like red blood cells, more than a decade ago at UC San Diegos Jacobs School of Engineering. They can also be used to extract oil or toxins from water or an oil spill. They have to be masked to be used in the body because the immune system attacks foreign objects. They have been dubbed nanosponges by researchers because of their ability to soak up pathogens or toxins.
Researchers at UC-San Diego will work next to see how well the COVID-19 nanosponges work in animals, and potentially, in humans.
Its a very promising technology, but I think its still very early to know how effective it will be in humans, said Vijay Krishna, assistant staff at the Cleveland Clinics biomedical engineering department. He has studied nanoparticles but is not an author or contributor to this study.
Usually, it would take between five and 10 years to develop this kind of technology for use in humans, Krishna said. But these are not normal times, and the development time for use in humans could speed up to one or two years.
The way these nanoparticles react in the cells in a lab is very different than how they might respond in living organisms, Krishna said.
Working in cells is very different than working in a living organism, he said. In a lung there is a lot of dynamics of movement, from your breathing, from blood flow and lungs expanding and contracting. These dynamics can change the interactions of nanosponges with the virus and that can actually dictate how effective these nanoparticles are.
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Nanotechnology shown to slow spread of COVID-19 virus in lung and white blood cells, study shows - cleveland.com
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