Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants has posed serious threats to global public health, thus calling for the development of potent and broad-spectrum antivirals. We previously designed and developed a peptide-based pan-coronavirus (CoV) fusion inhibitor, EK1, which is effective against all human CoVs (HCoV) tested by targeting the HCoV S protein HR1 domain. However, its relatively short half-life may limit its clinical use. Therefore, we designed, constructed, and expressed a recombinant protein, FL-EK1, which consists of a modified fibronectin type III domain (FN3) with albumin-binding capacity, a flexible linker, and EK1. As with EK1, we found that FL-EK1 could also effectively inhibit infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, as well as HCoV-OC43. Furthermore, it protected mice from infection by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant and HCoV-OC43. Importantly, the half-life of FL-EK1 (30 h) is about 15.7-fold longer than that of EK1 (1.8 h). These results suggest that FL-EK1 is a promising candidate for the development of a pan-CoV fusion inhibitor-based long-acting antiviral drug for preventing and treating infection by current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as other HCoVs.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; albumin; fusion inhibitor; human coronavirus; long-acting.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Human coronavirus, albumin, fusion inhibitor, long-acting., 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, Coronavirus disease 2019, pandemic, S protein, threat, variant, Infection, HCoV-OC43, peptide, delta variant, variants, antiviral drug, Human coronavirus, Protein, SARS-CoV-2 variants, mice, HCoV, albumin, CoV, broad-spectrum antivirals, inhibitor, type III, OC43, half-life, Recombinant protein, Clinical use, global public health, domain, CoVs, human CoVs, HCoVs, human CoV, HR1 domain, effective, limit, flexible linker, tested, caused, inhibit, peptide-based, expressed, the SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 Fibronectin, fusion, Type, Extended,