Coronavirus: two molecular scissors to stop infection

(ANSA) - ROME, JUNE 01 - Prevent the SARS-CoV-2 infectious process by blocking two 'molecular scissors' (proteases) present on human cells necessary for infection. It is reported by Maurizio Pellecchia of the University of Californiaa Riverside in a preliminary work published in the journal Molecules.
    The idea is to block the two proteasiumane at the same time, the main and best known 'TMPRSS2' and then the furin, to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from penetrating and infecting the cells. Leproteases are indispensable for the infectious process because they cut the spike protein in two, the involucroviral protein that acts as a 'molecular harpoon' and helps the virus to attack and enter human cells. Without the cutting of Spike by proteases, infection cannot occur.
    Pellecchia found that SARS-CoV-2, unlike other viral strains, uses both TMPRSS2 and furin proteases to initiate the invasion of human cells.