University of Florida researchers make promising discovery about COVID-19 treatment

A combination of over-the-counter products can prevent the duplication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Saskatchewan have discovered.

Diphenhydramine, an antihistamine used to treat allergy symptoms, and lactoferrin, a protein found in cow’s milk and breast milk used to supplement stomach and intestinal ulcers, have been shown to be effective in delaying duplication of the virus during monkey and human testes. lung cells.

The results, published in the journal Pathogens and announced in a UF press release on Monday, could ultimately lead to the development of a product that can be used in the fight against COVID-19, he said. David A. Island, immunologist and associate professor in the UF Medical Institute’s department of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine.

People should not self-medicate or use the products as a prevention or treatment of COVID-19, the press release warned.

Osrtov already knew that diphenhydramine was potentially effective against SARS-CoV-2 virus from his previous research efforts, after researchers presented unpublished data at a Global Virus Network COVID-19 task force meeting on federally approved compounds that were successful in reducing SARS-CoV-2 replication activity, including lactoferrin.

Ostrov decided to pair the two products, both of which are available without a prescription, to see what happened.

Individually, the compounds inhibited SARSCoV-2 virus replication by approx. 30%. However, when paired together, the compounds reduced virus replication by 99%.

To reach their conclusions, the researchers targeted the sigma receptors that the virus uses to replicate itself.

Researchers from UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, Pharmaceutical College and Department of Clinical and Translational Sciences, that University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency collaborated on the research.

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