For the readers not familiar with the science, you'll see that the paper above is to do with some similarities within the S protein of HIV and 2019nCoV. If you have read a previous post of mine (BIT thread) you'll recall that the S protein in both these viruses are the outer spiked type projections very visible on any 3D image. These spikes are responsible for the viruses to take hold of hosts cells.
HIV antivirals target the S protein with limited success. They manage to interrupt it in viruses that have infected main blood streams, but not in 'hidden' host cells, mostly found withing human organs. This is where Biotron has managed to achieve better results by interrupting the viruses life cycle mechanism, but not in the S protein, but rather, in the E protein, which is responsible for progeny. This applied to HIV and coronaviruses. This has been discussed previously.
Here is a link to an earlier Biotron paper that deals with the E Protein of coronavirus, and an extract for those who won't read the paper.
Hexamethylene amiloride blocks E protein ion channels and inhibits coronavirus replication
Abstract 'All coronaviruses encode a small hydrophobic envelope (E) protein, which mediates viral assembly and morphogenesis by an unknown mechanism. We have previously shown that the E protein from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) forms cation-selective ion channels in planar lipid bilayers . SARS coronavirus E protein forms cation-selective ion channels. We now report that three other E proteins also form cation-selective ion channels. These E proteins were from coronaviruses representative of taxonomic groups 1–3: human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E), mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), respectively. It appears, therefore, that coronavirus E proteins in general, belong to the virus ion channels family.
Hexamethylene amiloride (HMA) – an inhibitor of the HIV-1 Vpu virus ion channel – inhibited the HCoV-229E and MHV E protein ion channel conductance in bilayers and also inhibited replication of the parent coronaviruses in cultured cells, as determined by plaque assay. Conversely, HMA had no antiviral effect on a recombinant MHV with the entire coding region of E protein deleted (MHVΔE). Taken together, the data provide evidence of a link between inhibition of E protein ion channel activity and the antiviral activity of HMA.' https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004268220600359X?via%3Dihub
The point of posting this paper is to remind readers that Biotron actually have performed a lot of work with coronavirus dating back to 2006, and now have new intellectual property from many further studies. I am quietly confident that BIT has a lot to offer the present nCoV crisis. I've said before that I expect them to make a related announcement in the near term, and now that the CEO has stated that they are on the case, this announcement can't be far away. I expect that they will get their hands on material from the cloned virus this week, so hopefully news will accompany that.
