[Correspondence] Therapeutic potential of targeting ORF6 in persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections

In their study published in The Lancet Microbe, Mahan Ghafari and colleagues1 provide compelling evidence to suggest that ORF6 is under strong purifying selection during persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections, showing the lowest non-synonymous diversity and evolutionary rate among all viral genes. This remarkable conservation suggests that ORF6 could be an ideal target for novel antiviral therapies.