In a study conducted by researchers from the University of Maryland, it was found that a drug developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) can reverse the heart damage caused by a spike protein in the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In the study published in Communications Biology, a Nature Journal, the researchers identified the mechanism by which a specific protein in SARS-CoV-2 damages the heart tissue. They then used the drug, called 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), to reverse the toxic effects of that protein on the heart.

2DG is an oral drug developed by Dr. Reddy′s Laboratories in collaboration with DRDO. It hinders the process of glycolysis and prevents the growth of the virus. The researchers used the drug 2DG to block the sugar metabolism in the heart cells of the testing model and found that the drug reduced the heart and mitochondrial damage caused by the Nsp6 viral protein.

Typically, heart cells use fatty acids as an energy source, but switch over to sugar metabolism during heart failure as these cells try to repair the damaged tissue. The researchers observed that the Nsp6 protein hijacked the heart cells to turn on the glycolysis process, which enables cells to burn glucose for energy.