COVID-19, which has been in our lives for about 2 years and unfortunately caused the loss of millions of lives, continues its dangerous and unsettling journey with its new variants. There is a fight against the virus, which reduces the effect of the measures taken and the vaccines produced because it mutates, in many fields, especially in scientific studies.
In order to prevent the COVID-19 virus, many important studies are being carried out in the light of scientific researches all over the world. Finally, a group of researchers discovered that the antiviral agent known as Thapsigargin (TG), derived from a poisonous plant called the ‘deadly carrot’, blocks and inhibits the activity of COVID-19 variants.
Extremely effective against variants
According to research published in the journal Virulence, Thapsigargin (TG) triggers immunity by inhibiting the increase of viruses in host cells. This antiviral agent is thought to be effective against and inhibit many COVID-19 variants, including the Delta variant. Since the research has been done before, it is not known whether it is effective against the variant called Omicron, which originated in South Africa.
It was previously discovered that the antiviral agent named Thapsigargin (TG) inhibits the activity of some influenza viruses. Investigating whether it will also be effective for COVID-19 variants that emerged during the pandemic, scientists have received positive results as a result of their examinations and tests on the variants. “In co-infection, the most prolific infection group (Alpha-Delta), the combined viral RNA from TG-prepared cells decreased by 99.6% compared to cells treated with a control substance,” the researchers said in a statement. “We also showed that TG is effective at inhibiting the replication of three variants during active infection.”
Professor Kin Chow Chang, who was part of the study team, said: “Our new study has given us more information about the dominance of the Delta variant. While we have seen that this variant is clearly the most contagious and stimulates the production of other variants in coinfections, we are pleased to see that TG is equally effective against all. We hear about it.” Although the results were promising, the researchers warned people not to use these herbs.
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