Study: anticoagulant inhibits covid virus replication
A study conducted by researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) indicated that the oral anticoagulant Apixaban is effective in inhibiting the replication of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes covid-19. The results were published in the scientific journal Journal of Molecular Cell Biology.
The researchers found that a very important enzyme in the replication process of the coronavirus has structural similarity with a substance involved in the coagulation process, which makes the anticoagulant interfere with the multiplication of the virus. Fiocruz explains that this type of drug was already recommended to prevent high levels of D-dimer, which is the end product of the coagulation cascade and is directly related to severe covid-19.
"The use of anticoagulants helps prevent severe covid, and we were concerned about whether there were additional mechanisms for this clinical benefit," explained one of the study's authors, researcher Thiago Moreno Souza, from the Center for Technological Development in Health (CDTS/Fiocruz).
"This work demonstrates that there is and describes how this mechanism works, proving that this antiviral activity may also be contributing, to some extent, to the clinical benefit that these patients have," Souza told the Fiocruz News Agency.
The scientists involved in the study recommend further evaluation of the chemical structure of the anticoagulant Apixaban so that it can be understood precisely how this interference with viral replication works. Understanding this process more precisely may be the starting point for, in the future, developing specific antivirals against covid-19.
