Genetic screen reveals protein primed to stop COVID-19 virus

When activated, a protein found in cells that line the body’s tissues can inhibit viral spread — offering the potential for a new defense against COVID-19. Vaccines that spur the creation of antibodies designed to attack specific spike proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been the principal defense against COVID-19. However, Yale researchers have found that local cells that line airways of the respiratory system and other tissues possess a protein that can immediately block the invading virus before it has a chance to spread. The findings were published July 12 in the journal Nature. “The protein acts at the very beginning of viral replication and could offer new ways to treat viral infections,” said senior author John MacMicking, a tenured associate professor of microbial pathogenesis and of immunobiology at Yale, a member of the Yale Systems Biology Institute on Yale’s West Campus, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The Yale...