Project description
Preventive solutions for respiratory infections
Antiviral drugs to prevent respiratory infections are crucial in mitigating the spread and impact of viral diseases. The need for such drugs was starkly highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CD-ResVir project aims to develop a novel preventive system against respiratory pathogens. The idea is to create scaffolds and functionalise them with pathogen-targeting ligands to enhance affinity and efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses. Researchers plan to develop scaffolds using conjugates of cyclodextrins, which are cyclic oligosaccharides composed of glucose units. The long-term goal is to develop a nasal spray for widespread preventive use against respiratory infections.
Objective
The covid-19 pandemic has arisen awareness about the importance of developing tools to fight viral infection. However, there is still a lack of products to be used by the public as preventive systems against respiratory pathogens. Different systems have been developed to target SARS-CoV-2 using its affinity for different ligands. However, a multivalent presentation of these ligands is necessary to overcome their low affinity, which often implies complex structures difficult to synthesise and characterise. CD-ResVir aims to overcome those challenges. Our group has a wide experience in the exploitation of cyclodextrin (CD) conjugates to create self-assembling systems. These can be functionalised with a ligand to target a pathogen, leading to a multivalent supramolecular scaffold. The great advantage of supramolecular assemblies over covalent strategies is their structural adaptability to the target, i.e. the assembly will adopt the most stable state, the one with maximal interactions. It is also very simple to mix self-assembling components to optimise the effect. In preliminary experiments, we have obtained robust data proving that a sialic acid-functionalised CD scaffold could offer protection to cells exposed to SARS-CoV-2, which has never been proved before with a supramolecular assembly. Here, we propose to optimise the system and go beyond, expanding the scope of respiratory infections that could be addressed, targeting different respiratory viruses and bacteria. The Chemical Biology processes behind this application will be studied, from the atomic level (interactions between CD and SARS-CoV-2 receptors) to the microscopic level, (templating effect of a virus for the self-assembly of our CD system). Pursuing a groundbreaking preventive nasal spray against respiratory infections, we have established a strategic partnership with an industrial collaborator. This will facilitate the transition of our research findings from the laboratory to the industrial setting.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologypandemics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
75006 Paris
France