ONERESEARCH.ORG – Researchers looking for prevention and treatment strategies for COVID-19 that are not impacted by SARS-CoV-2 mutations published findings in Pathogens.
Findings showed that a combination of diphenhydramine (the active ingredient antihistamine in Benadryl) with lactoferrin (an immunologically active protein found in human and cow milk) reduced SARS-COV-2 replication by 99% in human cells.
The key to the researchers’ findings related to proteins called the sigma receptors.
These receptor proteins are located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), an organelle responsible for protein folding and transportation. Sigma receptors have multiple functions, including regulation of the ER stress response.
The ER stress response occurs when the ER is overwhelmed with unfolded or misfolded proteins.
This triggers the unfolded protein response (UPR), which seeks to return the cell to a normal state by increasing protein folding, autophagy (destruction of damaged proteins), and in the case of prolonged UPR, apoptosis (cell suicide).
ER stress usually occurs when the ER is overwhelmed with unfolded or misfolded proteins. Cells mitigate ER stress by provoking the unfolded protein response (UPR), which includes increased protein folding, autophagy (destruction of damaged proteins) and, in prolonged cases, apoptosis (cell suicide) …
The study’s first author, David A. Ostrov, Ph.D. of the University of Florida, hailed diphenhydramine and lactoferrin as “effective, economical,” and unlike AZ66, “[having] a long history of safety.”
The combination could be used to prevent infection as well as decrease recovery time from COVID-19.
While the researchers await potential interest from pharmaceutical companies, Ostrov told the University of Florida Health Newsroom that he cautions against self-medicating with diphenhydramine or lactoferrin as a COVID-19 prevention or treatment.
Ostrov says the commercially available lactoferrin used for treatment of stomach ulcers is not exactly the same as the lactoferrin used in the study. READ MORE.
