Joint research finds banana lectin 'H84T-BanLec' can curb coronaviruses

(ECNS) -- A research result released by Li KaShing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) on Monday found that banana lectin “H84T-BanLec” is capable of curbing coronaviruses.

This research was jointly conducted by HKUMed, University of Michigan, Johannes Kepler University Linz, and other overseas institutions.

The team found that H84T-BanLec potently inhibits all of the coronaviruses tested through binding to multiple spike mannose sites with high affinity to inhibit viral entry into host cells.

This unique antiviral mechanism of H84T-BanLec makes it difficult for the viruses to develop resistance and allows H84T-BanLec to be a potential "pan-coronavirus" antiviral for the current COVID-19 and future coronavirus pandemics.

As H84T-BanLec is known to be active against other viruses such as influenza viruses, intranasal administration of H84T-BanLec may become a countermeasure especially useful to seasonal outbreaks of respiratory viruses.