Two studies point to an unrecognized avenue for anti-viral therapies against COVID-19 – EurekAlert

Helping to explain what makes SARS-CoV-2 so capable of infecting human cells, researchers in two independent studies discovered that the virus’s spike protein recognizes and binds a protein on the human cell surface called neuropilin-1. This facilitates its ability to enter and infect cells, they suggest. Demonstrating a potential anti-viral treatment, the findings of both studies also describe how the virus’s ability to infect human cells through neuropilin-1 can be reduced by inhibitors. Compared…

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