As a treatment for the new coronavirus (COVID-19), the usefulness of the fusion protein (RTAM-PAP1) between a mutant of the lysine A chain extracted from Ricinus communis (RTAM) and a lectin extracted from the leaves of Phytolacca americana (PAP1) is reported from the viewpoint of affinity evaluation between various proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and RTAM-PAP1 and also from toxicity testing using mice.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/12/9/602/htm
The binding affinity between a patient-derived antibody B38 of SARS-CoV-2 (as a control), ACE2, RTAM-PAP1 and various proteins of SARS-CoV-2 were evaluated using three-dimensional molecular structure analysis software named CoDockPP, HASSOCK2.2, and ZDOCK. The binding of RTAM-PAP1 was stronger than ACE2, and showed the same binding affinity as B38 comprehensively.
In addition, the toxicity tests using mice showed no side effects even at 1 mg/kg of dose.
This paper shows the usefulness of the fusion protein of lectins derived from Ricinus communis and Phytolacca americana as a novel drug for the new coronavirus.
Ricinus communis
Phytolacca americana