As we enter the epidemic season for Enterovirus, type 71 is shown to be the most likely to cause severe symptoms. A cross-campus team from Yang-Ming University and National Chiao Tung University has made a breakthrough discovery on transport proteins, which assist in delivering essential nutrients to cells, inadvertently creating a pathway, and breach for the invasion of enterovirus type 71 and other similar viruses.
In a press release issued today, Yang-Ming University stated that Associate Professor Hsu Chia-Lin’s research team from the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, along with Professor Chang Shu-Yuan from the Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology at National Taiwan University, has unraveled the invasion mechanism of enteroviruses. Their research findings have also been published in an international journal.
The research team pointed out that the third equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT3) is responsible for transporting nucleosides across the cell membrane, supporting various physiological reactions in cells. This transport protein is highly expressed in macrophages of the immune system and also affects the survival of T lymphocytes. When immune cells are at the forefront of combatting viruses, this protein plays a crucial role in supplying essential resources.
However, the research team unexpectedly discovered that various viruses, including enterovirus type 71 and SARS-CoV-2, can exploit this transport protein’s supply route to invade the cytoplasm of cells. According to the latest research from Yang-Ming University’s Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, removing or reducing the expression of the third nucleoside transport protein in cells and mice can effectively inhibit virus replication.
The research findings have been formally published in “EMBO reports,” and the full article can be accessed at the following website: https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/embr.202255286.