With coronavirus cases around the world now in the millions, scientists are desperately racing to find a treatment for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
From using existing medications for malaria to developing an entirely new vaccine, several different options are being looked at by teams around the world.
Now, one scientist claims that coronavirus may need to be ‘treated like cancer’, with infected cells destroyed.
Dr Kevan Shokat, a pharmacologist at the University of California, San Francisco, was referring to research that focuses on finding drugs that target host cells, rather than the virus itself.
Viruses rely on host cells to replicate, tricking our body’s cells into copying their viral genomes and making their viral proteins.
Dr Shokat suggests that selectively killing these host cells could be a more effective tactic at tackling the virus.
Speaking to The Atlantic, Dr Shokat said: “I think it’s much more like a cancer therapy.”
However, this tactic isn’t exactly straightforward.
According to Dr Shokat, developing a drug that can distinguish between healthy cells and those that have been virus-hijacked is very complex.
Thankfully, initial studies suggest that this coronavirus doesn’t mutate as quickly as other viruses.
The Atlantic explained: “The good news about SARS-CoV-2, at least, is that it does not seem to mutate especially quickly for a virus. A number of different steps in the disease cycle could be lasting targets for a treatment.”
In the UK, the NHS is now approaching the peak of the outbreak, with more than 900 deaths reported yesterday.
There have been more than 1.5million cases recorded worldwide now, with approaching 90,000 deaths linked to the virus.
