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Scientists engineer decoy protein that neutralises coronavirus: Study
WASHINGTON : Scientists have engineered a decoy protein which binds to the novel coronavirus and blocks infection in cultured cells, an advance that may lead to a therapeutic or preventive agent against COVID-19.According to the researchers, including Erik Procko from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in the US, in order to infect a human cell, a virus must first bind to a receptor protein on the surface of the cell.For the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, they said this happens via a receptor protein called ACE2, which is found particularly in tissues in the lungs, heart, arteries, kidneys and intestines, playing a number of roles, including the regulation of blood pressure and inflammation.In the study, published in the journal