Drug designed for possible treatment of COVID-19 by faculty members of Shahid Rajaee university.

The Department of Biological Sciences of Shahid Rajaee University has began the study of the COVID-19 outbreak from the beginning of its spread in Iran, and after preliminary studies, a research proposal based on the use Coronavirus receptor (ACE2) as a drug candidate has been suggested. The suggested protein would prevent the spread of virus in the cells after precise engineering of its sequence. This means that the cellular receptor of the coronavirus is produced in a laboratory environment and after being injected into the body, it competes with the natural receptor of the virus on the cells. Dr. Khalili, the supervisor of this group, acknowledged: “This approach takes advantage of the receptors evolutionary superiority in binding to the virus, and in addition, since this protein would be identified as an autologous (self) protein for the body, it would be able to avoid the common adverse effects of the immune system.”
This research group does not stop with the wild type receptor, but also they used bioinformatics tools of protein engineering to design a mutated species of the receptor that has a more competitive advantage over the wild type receptor. The engineered ACE2 receptor is expected to bind the virus with higher affinity while it is more thermostable and lacks enzymatic activity. The results of bioinformatics study are now considered for publication in peer reviewed journals.
Although there were no similar studies at the time of suggesting this research proposal, recently a research group has published an in vitro study of the same idea with wild type receptor. This study could construed as a proof of concept for this therapeutic agent. Due to promising in vitro results, soon it is expected to inter the clinical phases of study.
The research group from the Shahid Rajaee University is now seeks for funding to have their idea examined in the clinical trials in Iran. However, high expanses of this study seem to be the challenge to conduct it. Given the worldwide competition to find an effective drug for COVID-19 rationalizes the funding of this research for further examination. An Iranian drug would help our nation to receive an affordable and accessible drug for COVID-19, while it could be deemed as a possible source of income.