Important progress in research of anti mers drugs by Jiang Shibo team of Fudan University

Since the first case of imported Middle East respiratory syndrome (mers) was diagnosed in China on May 28, all parties in China have shown great concern The good news is that Jiang Shibo, a scholar of the national "Thousand Talents Program" of the Ministry of Medical Molecular Virology education / Key Laboratory of the Ministry of health of Fudan University, and his colleagues have made important progress in the research and development of anti mers drugs In 2013~2014, the novel coronavirus HR2P was designed and tested by the research team It is found that HR2P can effectively inhibit MERS-CoV (MERS Coronavirus) infection in different cells in MERS Later, Jiang Shibo team further optimized the sequence of hr2p, and obtained a new polypeptide, hr2p-m2 Its structural stability, water solubility, antiviral activity and broad-spectrum were greatly improved Then, in cooperation with international coronavirus experts, they tested the prevention and treatment effects of HR2P-M2 on MERS-CoV by nasal administration on two small animal models that can be infected with MERS The results showed that hr2p-m2 had a very good anti mers cov effect in vivo and could protect animals from the lethal dose of mers cov The related papers of the research progress have been accepted by an international well-known Journal of infectious diseases, and will be officially published in the near future Jiang Shibo told reporters that according to the current results, the peptide can be used in nasal cavity spray method for emergency prevention of high-risk groups, including those who have had close contact with MERS-CoV infected persons, especially medical personnel, family members of patients and ward roommates In addition, the polypeptide hr2p-m2 can also be used in people infected with mers-cov Jiang Shibo said that this measure can greatly reduce the number of virus particles released by infected people, so as to achieve the effect of controlling the source of infection At the same time, the team's researcher Ying Tianlei and other researchers, together with researchers from the National Institutes of health of the United States, developed a highly active all human neutralizing antibody against mers coronavirus, m336 Laboratory data showed that the binding affinity constant of the antibody to mers coronavirus reached the level of "picomore" - its neutralization activity against mers live virus reached 0.07 μ g / ml This means that when the antibody encounters mers live virus, it can realize "second kill" The results have been published in the Journal of Virology Ying Tianlei told reporters that recently m336 mAb has been tested in vivo in marmoset and rabbit models The results showed that the antibody was very effective in both animal models, and its activity was much higher than that of the recovery serum of mers infected animals Because the antibody is all human monoclonal antibody, it has very high safety and drug resistance, and is suitable for the development of drugs for the treatment of mers At the same time, the experimental results in vitro showed that the combination of HR2P-M2 and m336 had a good synergistic effect "If we can get the approval of the relevant departments and the consent of the patients, the combination of m336 antibody (intravenous injection) and HR2P-M2 (nasal spray method) may be used for emergency treatment of MERS-CoV infected persons and save their lives." Jiang Shibo said The researcher of the team told the reporter by land: "relevant government departments in China have convened experts to discuss emergency strategies and seek opinions at the first time We believe that for China, in addition to strengthening prevention and control, more attention should be paid to the research of mers virus, especially vaccine and drug " Will mers break out like SARS in China? Jiang Shibo thinks the answer is No "Mers is limited to lower respiratory tract infection (while SARS is upper respiratory tract infection), and its interpersonal communication ability is significantly weaker than SARS Therefore, mers is not more terrible than SARS." "Our country has experienced the baptism of SARS virus outbreak, and all departments have accumulated rich experience in the prevention and control of this kind of virus We should believe in the prevention and control ability of the government," Jiang said In 2012, we paid attention to the development of mers virus Mers cov virus was first found in the middle of 2012, and its mortality rate was as high as 43%, which attracted the attention of the international community Before that, there were no specific drugs and vaccines against the virus in the world In 2012, Professor Jiang Shibo and his research group focused on its development During the outbreak of SARS, Jiang Shibo's team was also the first to report the anti SARS polypeptides in the international top medical journal Lancet Zhao Wei, Professor of the third level Biosafety Laboratory of the school of public health and tropical medicine, Southern Medical University, said that as a regional virus, research samples are difficult to obtain and need high-level laboratory to carry out corresponding research In addition, due to the low frequency of cases and the unpredictability of outbreaks, it is unlikely to carry out relevant academic research immediately at the national level Even if it is carried out, it may only be within a small scope According to the report of Guangdong health and Family Planning Commission on June 1, the first confirmed case of imported Middle East respiratory syndrome (mers) in China still had fever, increased bilateral lung exudation, aggravating disease trend, and basically stable vital signs Its close contacts have been traced to 67 people, and 10 people are still missing It is worth mentioning that in the interview, some pharmaceutical companies showed their concern in this field For example, panamivir sodium chloride injection produced by Guangzhou Nanxin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., as a new anti influenza drug, is mainly aimed at the prevention and treatment of h7n9 "As there is no specific research data at present, it is difficult to judge the prevention and treatment effect of the drug on mers, but the company will actively prepare for it in the near future." Nanxin pharmaceutical related quality director told our reporter "The mortality of coronavirus in Middle East respiratory syndrome is more than 30%." Zhong Nanshan, academician of Chinese Academy of engineering, pointed out at the summit forum of Asia Pacific (Guangzhou) healthy breathing Expo recently held in Guangzhou According to the data released by the national health and Family Planning Commission, the typical cases of mers often present symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath, and pneumonia is often found in the examination; severe cases can lead to respiratory failure, requiring mechanical ventilation and support treatment in the ICU "Mers was first found in 2012, and the treatment for this virus infection has not changed much Currently, there are no specific antiviral drugs and vaccines for mers cov." In an interview, Zhao Weiru, a professor in the three level Biosafety Laboratory of the school of public health and tropical medicine of Southern Medical University, said Similar to Ebola, no effective drugs and vaccines have been approved for marketing since the mers virus was found, for various reasons Zhao Wei analyzed that, on the one hand, economic benefits become the influencing factors of drug development, which is often the most concerned by drug companies In particular, the development of vaccines needs to invest a lot of money, and it may be difficult to recover the cost later The development of drugs for viral infection is also far more difficult than the development of anti bacterial drugs For example, at present, there are no specific drugs for HIV, hepatitis B and other viral infections, which is related to the structure and pathogenesis of the virus and other factors "As a regional virus, research samples are difficult to obtain and require high-level laboratories to carry out corresponding research In addition, due to the low frequency of cases and the unpredictability of the outbreak, it is unlikely to carry out large-scale research on related academic topics at the national level Even if it is carried out, it may only be within a small scope " Zhao Wei said The above experts predict that according to the national attention and prevention and control situation, relying on the existing medical technology and disease control conditions, large-scale infectious transmission will not be caused The strength of medical sector mers has attracted continuous attention nationwide, and the sensitive capital market has also responded rapidly Recently, the concept of bio medicine has been heated by capital, which has given birth to the growing strength of the pharmaceutical sector In the A-share market, Rhine biology, Lukang medicine, Lianhuan pharmaceutical, Haiwang biology, Baiyunshan, Daan gene, etc rose significantly According to the financial investment report, if the epidemic continues, there may be a wave of short-term trading opportunities in the future Similar to the corresponding concept stock speculation in the capital market during the outbreak period of dengue fever, SARS, avian influenza, H1N1, etc., influenced by the information level, most of them only involve the stock price limit of antiviral and testing reagents Many pharmaceutical stocks are also "hitchhiked" due to the concept of biological vaccine, disease detection, anti-virus drug research and development, and even the concept of masks, gloves and other stocks will be detonated In that year, during the influenza A (H1N1) epidemic (2009), there were seven fluctuations in Rhine bio's share price, which reached a record high As for the pharmaceutical concept market triggered by mers, analysts of Shanghai Tongjin Investment Co., Ltd said in an interview that "only short-term related plate speculation will not have a substantial impact on the stock price." Other investors expect that the epidemic has not spread in large areas in China and the contagion has been controlled The duration and space of stock speculation are not very long