The beauty of evACE2 is its ability to prevent broad strains of coronaviruses from infecting people, including the existing SARS-CoV-2 and even future SARS coronaviruses.

Virus SARS-CoV-2, which is constantly evolving, has increased the COVID-19 pandemic’s scope and posed new threats. One of the biggest problems is the moving target of the pathogenic coronavirus, which changes all the time and makes new virus strains (variants) with new problems. These new viral strains have different changes in the viral spike protein that lead to high infection rates and more breakthroughs.

When a new mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2 emerges, the original vaccine and treatment antibodies may lose their effectiveness against alpha, beta, delta, and omicron variants.

Now, researchers at Northwestern Medicine and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified naturally occurring nanobubbles containing the ACE2 protein (evACE2) in the blood of COVID-19 patients and demonstrated that these nanoparticles can inhibit infection by a broad strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus in preclinical studies.

The evACE2 functions as a decoy in the body and might be used as a therapy for the prevention and treatment of existing and future SARS-CoV-2 strains, according to the researchers. Once established as a therapeutic substance, it can be used as a biological treatment for humans with low side effects.

The research is the first to show that evACE2 proteins can combat novel SARS-CoV-2 variants with the same or higher efficacy than inhibiting the original strain. The researchers found that these evACE2 nano bubbles are found in human blood as a natural defense against viruses. The more severe the disease, the more evACE2 is found in the blood of the patient.

The study was published today in Nature Communications.

“Our mouse studies demonstrate the therapeutic potential of evACE2 in preventing or blocking SARS-CoV-2 infection when it is delivered to the airway via droplets,” said study co-senior author Dr. Huiping Liu. 

The evACE2 proteins are nanoparticle-sized lipid (fat) bubbles that express the ACE2 protein, acting as grips for the virus to grab. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is lured away from the ACE2 protein on cells by these bubbles, which is how the virus infects cells. Instead of cellular ACE2, the virus spike protein grabs the handle of evACE2, stopping it from entering the cell. The virus will either float around harmlessly or be removed by a macrophage immune cell once it has been trapped. It can no longer cause infection at that moment.

“The key takeaway from this study is the identification of naturally occurring extracellular vesicles in the body that express the ACE2 receptor on their surface and serve as part of the normal adaptive defense against COVID-19-causing viruses,” added co-senior author Dr. Raghu Kalluri. “Building upon this, we’ve discovered a way to harness this natural defense as a new potential therapy against this devastating virus.” 

“It remains urgent to identify novel therapeutics,” Liu said. “We think evACE2 can meet the challenges and fight against broad strains of SARS-CoV-2 and future emerging coronaviruses to protect the immunocompromised (at least 2.7% of U.S. adults), unvaccinated (94% in low-income countries and more than 30% in the U.S.) and even vaccinated from breakthrough infections.”

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