Hydroxychloroquine attacks the means used by the virus, Omicron in particular, to enter our cells. Unlike other strains of Covid, it might thus prove effective once morest the South African variant. As long as you can prove it. If no test has yet been carried out, the theory is already having the effect of a bomb.
The return. While vague Omicron is sweeping the world, scientists are trying to pinpoint what variant elusive. Yes contagious that it causes millions of contaminations per day in the world. The bar of 300,000 new cases dailies having been exceeded on several occasions in France.
While the recalls strategy is questioned by the WHO itself, which would prefer an update of the vaccines to fight once morest South African variant and those to come, many scientists are looking for the solution to end this pandemic which has changed our lives for more than two years.
One of them was Didier Raoult. But the Marseille scientist and his theories onhydroxychloroquine have been severely attacked all over the world.
Or, l’hydroxychloroquine offers itself a return to the front of the media scene. In a paper published this Wednesday, January 12, here is the online scientific journal The Conversation wonders : “Does a new study really show that thehydroxychloroquine might be effective once morest Omicron ?”
The author of the article, Ben Krishna, researcher in immunology and virology at the University of Cambridge, quotes as a Scottish study, carried out by the University of Glasgow, which revives the interest ofhydroxychloroquine face au South African variant.
Like an antiviral?
A study which first reveals that Omicron “may have changed the way it enters cells”. “From the surface or via a endosome*”, that many viruses “exploit to get into cells”. Via mutations, Omicron would even have improved this ability to use endosomes. This is where hydroxychloroquine comes in.
“Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is a drug that accumulates in endosomes and decreases their acidity, which disrupts their function. Making endosomes less acidic reduces membrane fusion, thereby reducing the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to penetrate in cells, so hydroxychloroquine might act as a antiviral“, summarizes Ben Krishna.
“But they (the study authors) do not show that Omicron is limited to using only endosomes. It can still enter through the surface of the cell. The use of hydroxychloroquine to prevent Omicron from entering via the endosomes would therefore only marginally limit the entry of the virus into cells “, according to Ben Krishna. A study that is sorely lacking in practical cases. This is because it does not test the effects of hydroxychloroquine on Omicron. Which remains the only way to validate the theory. First step before embarking on a clinical trial.
*“An endosome occurs when the cell’s membrane folds back on itself, creating a bubble of outer material inside the cell in order to absorb nutrients. Normally, the cell will then sort through the material and store the nutrients. useful while throwing others away.
