Our Alumnus Michael Johnson, PhD, assistant professor of immunobiology, will work with Koenraad Van Doorslaer, PhD assistant professor in the聽,聽at the University of Arizona – Health Sciences – College of Medicine to investigate the use of copper compounds in preventing infection.
A team of UArizona Health Sciences researchers is studying whether or not certain copper-based chemical compounds could potentially stop the virus that causes COVID-19 dead in its tracks.
On March 17,聽聽about how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on various surfaces was published in the聽New England Journal of Medicine. Led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the study found that the virus, called SARS-CoV-2, can survive on plastic and stainless steel for up to three days, on cardboard for 24 hours, and on copper for just four hours.
As soon as the study appeared online, Michael Johnson鈥檚 computer started 鈥減inging鈥� with incoming emails from frenzied colleagues asking, 鈥淗ave you seen this?鈥� Johnson, an expert on copper鈥檚 toxicity to pathogens, an assistant professor of immunobiology in the聽, and a member of the聽, hadn鈥檛 seen it. Yet.
Johnson鈥檚 lab uses chemical compounds that deliver copper to disease-causing bacteria like聽Streptococcus pneumoniae聽and MRSA. The copper kills them. Building on the new COVID-19 findings, Johnson is now studying whether or not these same compounds could block SARS-CoV-2 from even entering human cells or hinder their ability to replicate once they do.
鈥淭here is precedence for this to work, but I think we can add a novel twist,鈥� explained Johnson.
The compounds, he thinks, could work like this: SARS-CoV-2, like all coronaviruses, is studded with spike proteins鈥攏ecessary for entry into a host cell鈥攔esembling the spikes on a crown. These proteins require metals like zinc to function, and they steal these metals from our own cells. If instead of stealing useful metals like zinc, Johnson could deliver toxic copper to the virus鈥檚 spike proteins, it could be rendered inoperable. The process is called 鈥渕ismetallation,鈥� and Johnson compares it to replacing a car鈥檚 steering wheel with bike handles and its ignition with the pull cord on a lawnmower.
鈥淓ventually, the car is going to become undriveable,鈥� he said.
Just one problem. 鈥淚鈥檓 not a virologist鈥攏ot even on the weekends,鈥� he quipped.
So Johnson enlisted the help of聽Koenraad Van Doorslaer, an assistant professor of immunobiology and expert virologist in the聽.听Wei Wang, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology who creates the compounds they鈥檒l be testing, and聽Elisa Tomat, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry who is an expert on metal ionophores, are advising Johnson and Van Doorslaer as they experiment.
鈥淢aking great things happen in science requires one fundamental thing, and that鈥檚 the spirit of collaboration,鈥� said Johnson. 鈥淲e all have different expertise, but we come together for a common purpose and we create something better than the sum of our parts.鈥�
Johnson noted that he and Van Doorslaer聽are not using SARS-CoV-2 samples to conduct their experiments.
鈥淲e are using a virus that mimics the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but that will not cause disease. This is a powerful and safe way to identify drugs that could impact COVID-19,鈥� said Van Doorslaer, who teaches in the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences. They鈥檙e also using a different, seasonal coronavirus that is not as dangerous as SARS-CoV-2 to test copper鈥檚 effect against other components of the virus.
鈥淯ltimately, if we鈥檙e successful with our preliminary vetting, we will move forward with testing these compounds directly on SARS-CoV-2,鈥� said Johnson.
If copper proves effective in the cellular battle against COVID-19, physicians could use already existing therapeutics in tandem with copper to deliver an extra punch of toxicity to the virus. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes this an experiment worth doing,鈥� said Johnson.
News courtesy of Emily Litvack, The University of Arizona Research.