A few days ago, the international authoritative academic journal "Science" announced the results of the 2021 Top Ten Scientific Breakthroughs. Among them, "artificial intelligence predicts protein structure" ranks first; "the emergence of anti-new crown powerful drugs" ranks fourth. Where is the difficulty in protein structure resolution? What are the anti-coronavirus drugs at home and abroad? The reporters of The Liberation Daily and Shangguan News made a combing arrangement.
[Anfensen's dream seems to be getting closer and closer]
Interestingly, "artificial intelligence for the first time accurately predicted the three-dimensional structure of proteins" was ranked seventh in the top ten scientific breakthroughs in 2020 selected by Science.
There is no life without protein. It converts food into the energy of cells, transports oxygen in our bloodstream, and fights microbial invaders. Proteins have a three-dimensional structure and are made up of a series of amino acids folded. How amino acid long chains spontaneously fold into three-dimensional structures is a problem that has long plagued scientists. Because the protein structure depends on the interaction force between the individual atoms of thousands of amino acids, the resolution of protein structure is very difficult, and for a long time, the protein structure can only be determined through painstaking laboratory analysis.
American biochemist Christian Anfensen laid out a vision in his 1972 Nobel Prize acceptance speech that one day, the three-dimensional structure of any protein could be predicted based on the sequence of amino acids.
Why do scientists care so much about the resolution of protein structures? It turns out that most of our most commonly used small molecule chemical drugs, most of their targets are in proteins, and drug research and development cannot be separated from the analysis of protein structures.
As early as the 1950s, researchers began using X-ray crystallography to map the three-dimensional structure of proteins, but this took years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per protein. To speed up this process, scientists began creating computer models in the 1970s to predict how proteins fold.
On December 1 last year, Google's DeepThinking company announced that its new generation of "Alpha Folding" artificial intelligence systems accurately predicted the three-dimensional structure of proteins for the first time.
In July, DeepThink announced the use of "alpha folding" to predict almost all protein structures expressed by humans.
"I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime." John Morte, a structural biologist at the University of Maryland's Shady Grove, lamented this. Of course, he also notes that "protein structures are not static, they bend as they work, and modeling these changes remains a challenge." But AI-driven technological advances will forever change biology and medicine. ”
Anfensen's dream seemed to be getting closer.
It is foreseeable that this scientific breakthrough will have a wide range of applications and is expected to find innovative drug targets more quickly.
【China's first anti-new crown virus special drug approved for listing】
The COVID-19 pandemic is not over, and scientists have been working on specific drugs.
On December 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral drug that could be urgently used to treat COVID-19 infections. The drug, called Paxlovid, produced by Pfizer, consists of two antiviral drugs that can be used to treat adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 and children aged 12 years and older, as well as those at higher risk of severe illness. Previously, Pfizer had announced that Paxlovid could reduce the risk of hospitalization or death in patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 by about 89%.
On November 4, 2021, local time, the UK Medicines and Health Products Authority announced the approval of the emergency use authorization application of "monupipvir", which became the world's first marketed anti-coronavirus drug that can be taken orally at home. According to the US pharmaceutical company Merck, the "monopivir" they developed in collaboration with Ridgeback has reduced the risk of hospitalization or death in mild to moderate patients by 50% in phase III clinical trials.
On December 8 this year, China's first anti-new coronavirus special drug, a special drug of amphavir monoclonal antibody / romimab combined therapy, was approved by the China Food and Drug Administration for marketing. Clinical trial data show that the drug can reduce hospitalization and mortality rates in high-risk COVID-19 outpatients by 80%. At the same time, antibodies can persist in the human body for 9 to 12 months, which also has a certain effect on preventing infection.
Whether these drugs can become a real anti-coronavirus drug remains to be further observed in the real world. Looking forward to the future, with the anti-new crown virus special drugs and safe and efficient vaccines and strong public health measures to prevent the epidemic, the world can open up at an early date.
Related: Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs selected by Science in 2021
1. Artificial intelligence predicts protein structure
2. Unlock the ancient dirt DNA treasure trove
3. Achieve a historic breakthrough in nuclear fusion
4. Anti-new crown powerful drugs appear
5. Ecstasy relieves symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
6. Monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of infectious diseases
7. "Insight" reveals the internal structure of Mars for the first time
8. "Cracks" appear in the Standard Model of particle physics
9. CRISPR gene editing therapy has been demonstrated for the first time in humans
10. In vitro embryo culture opens a new window for early developmental research
![For the first time, a complete map of the human genome has been drawn[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)