Preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection by blocking a tissue serine protease

Katherine C Jankousky; Jonathan Schultz; Samuel Windham; Andrés F Henao-Martínez; Carlos Franco-Paredes; Leland Shapiro

doi:10.1177/2049936120933076

Preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection by blocking a tissue serine protease

Ther Adv Infect Dis. 2020 Jun 10:7:2049936120933076. doi: 10.1177/2049936120933076. eCollection 2020 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Katherine C Jankousky¹, Jonathan Schultz², Samuel Windham², Andrés F Henao-Martínez³, Carlos Franco-Paredes², Leland Shapiro⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Center Aurora, CO, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Center, Aurora, CO, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, 12700 E 19TH AVE, Mail Stop B168, Aurora, CO, USA.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Center, Aurora, CO, USA.

Abstract

Currently, there are no proven pharmacologic interventions to reduce the clinical impact and prevent complications of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, the cause of the ongoing Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Selecting specific pharmacological targets for the treatment of viral pathogens has traditionally relied in blockage of specific steps in their replicative lifecycle in human cells. However, an alternative approach is reducing the molecular cleavage of the viral surface spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to prevent viral entry into epithelial cells.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 drug treatment; Serine proteases; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).