19 Dec Hundreds of Human Genes Required for SARS-COVID to Infect Cells

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Poirier

John T. Poirier, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Director, Preclinical Therapeutics Program
Perlmutter Cancer Center
An NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center

NYU Langone Health
Smilow Research Center
New York, NY 10016 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: The goal of this study was to identify in as much detail as possible the genes that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, needs to successfully infect a human host cell. CRISPR technology played a key role in this research; it was used to disrupt every gene in the human genome in parallel and study which ones were required for infection.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: We identified hundreds of human genes that are required for SARS-CoV-2 to infect cells. Additionally, many of these genes were also required for other, distantly related coronaviruses. This is important because it suggests that these same genes would also be required to support infection of coronaviruses that may emerge in the future. 

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: These two questions are a related. We hope that readers will examine our findings and use this information in two ways.

First, we hope that basic scientists will explore in more detail the precise functional role that each of these host factors plays in the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle.

Second, we hope that medicinal chemists and the pharmaceutical industry will identify opportunities to develop medicines to inhibit the proteins that SARS-CoV-2 requires to complete its life cycle. 

I have no disclosures related to this research. 

Citation:

Genome-scale identification of SARS-CoV-2 and pan-coronavirus host factor networks William M. Schneider, Joseph M. Luna, H.-Heinrich Hoffmann, Francisco J. SánchezRivera, Andrew A. Leal, Alison W. Ashbrook, Jérémie Le Pen, Inna Ricardo-Lax, Eleftherios Michailidis, Avery Peace, Ansgar F. Stenzel, Scott W. Lowe, Margaret R. MacDonald, Charles M. Rice, John T. Poirier PII: S0092-8674(20)31676-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.12.006

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Last Updated on December 19, 2020 by Marie Benz MD FAAD