Structural and functional properties of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: potential antivirus drug development for COVID-19

• Published in: Acta pharmacologica Sinica Vol. 41; no. 9; pp. 1141 - 1149
• Main Authors: Huang, Yuan, Yang, Chan, Xu, Xin-feng, Xu, Wei, Liu, Shu-wen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01-09-2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: ACE2; Angiotensin; Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Betacoronavirus - drug effects; Betacoronavirus - physiology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell fusion; Cell membranes; Coronaviridae; Coronavirus Infections - drug therapy; Coronavirus Infections - virology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease transmission; Drug delivery; Drug development; Drug Discovery - methods; Humans; Immunology; Infectious diseases; Internal Medicine; Medical Microbiology; Membrane fusion; Pandemics; Peptidyl-dipeptidase A; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Pneumonia, Viral - drug therapy; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Proteins; Review; Review Article; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - physiology; Spike protein; Structure-function relationships; Vaccine; Virus Internalization - drug effects; antivirus drugs; antibodies; SARS-CoV-2 virus; spike protein; fusion inhibitors; host proteases inhibitors
• ISSN: 1671-4083; 1745-7254
• DOI: 10.1038/s41401-020-0485-4

Coronavirus disease 2019 is a newly emerging infectious disease currently spreading across the world. It is caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2, which plays a key role in the receptor recognition and cell membrane fusion process, is composed of two subunits, S1 and S2. The S1 subunit contains a receptor-binding domain that recognizes and binds to the host receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, while the S2 subunit mediates viral cell membrane fusion by forming a six-helical bundle via the two-heptad repeat domain. In this review, we highlight recent research advance in the structure, function and development of antivirus drugs targeting the S protein.