array:1 [
  0 => {#482
    +"n_tit": "Novel drug target for treating Covid"
    +"n_date": "2021-03-17 19:19:16.400"
    +"n_desc": """
      <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>New York, Mar 17 (IANS):</strong> A team of researchers has identified a potential new target for anti-Covid-19 therapies.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">The findings, published in Nature Microbiology, indicated that a coronavirus enzyme called PLpro (papain-like protease) blocks the body's immune response to the infection.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">"Our findings offer insights into a never-before characterized mechanism of immune activation and how PLpro disrupts this response, enabling SARS-CoV-2 to freely replicate and wreak havoc throughout the host," said researcher Michaela Gack from the University of Chicago in the US.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">"We discovered that inhibiting PLpro may help rescue the early immune response that is key to limiting viral replication and spread," Gack added.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">One of the body's frontline immune defences is a class of receptor proteins, including one called MDA5, that identify invaders by foreign patterns in their genetic material. When the receptors recognise a foreign pattern, they become activated and kick-start the immune system into antiviral mode.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">This is done in part by increasing the downstream expression of proteins encoded by interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), the researchers said.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">In this study, the team identified a novel mechanism that leads to MDA5 activation during virus infection.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">They found that ISG15 must physically bind to specific regions in the MDA5 receptor -- a process termed ISGylation -- in order for MDA5 to effectively activate and unleash antiviral actors against invaders.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">They showed that ISGylation helps to promote the formation of larger MDA5 protein complexes, which ultimately results in a more robust immune response against a range of viruses.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">The research team also showed that the coronavirus enzyme PLpro physically interacts with the receptor MDA5 and inhibits the ISGylation process.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">The researchers said that more research is necessary, but the findings suggest that therapeutics that inhibit the enzyme may help treat Covid-19.</p>\r\n
      <p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p>
      """
    +"n_loc": "health              "
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