New drug may inhibit virus transport in cells

The study involving the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain, the Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and published today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) identified a new pharmacological form in tubulin, a protein that is part of structures that transport substances in cells, called microtubules.

The discovery of a new pharmacological form in the protein that is part of those transport routes can contribute to the development of drugs.

This identification, from a new compound of natural origin of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), “may contribute to the development of drugs for the treatment of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and emerging viral infections”, explained the CSIC in a statement .

Microtubules are intracellular structures that function as cellular pathways for the transport of substances, vesicles and even viruses, in case a cell is infected.

“The researchers believe that the pharmacological destabilization of the microtubules would help to prevent the generation of viral factories in the cell”, it can also be read in the document,

The work, in which the Center for Biological Research Margarita Salas (CIB-CSIC) and the Center for Natural Products, Discovery and Development of Medicines in Florida (USA) participated, includes the procedure for characterizing a natural product, obtained from cyanobacteria, which prevents the activation of tubulin.

“As the protein is inactivated, microtubules cannot be formed either, intracellular transport is blocked and, most importantly, chromosome separation is avoided during cell division,” explained Marian Oliva, from CIB-CSIC and one of the authors. of the study.

Tubulin, a protein that is part of microtubules, is one of the most successful targets for the discovery of drugs against viral, neurological diseases or cancer.

So far, six sites have been identified that promote the stabilization or disassembly of microtubules, to which is added the one located through this investigation.

Each pharmacological target within the tubulin modifies its functioning differently.

“Finding a new target implies having a new range of possibilities, with the option of being able to find drugs that, without being toxic, are effective in treating diseases”, concluded Oliva.

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