Although the approved vaccines are proving to be of utmost importance in containing the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat, they will hardly be resolutive as new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, a single-stranded RNA virus) variants might be insensitive to the immune response they induce. In this scenario, developing an effective therapy is still a dire need. Different targets for therapeutic antibodies and diagnostics have been identified, among which the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein, particularly its receptor-binding domain, has been defined as crucial. In this context, we aim to focus attention also on the role played by the S N-terminal domain (S1-NTD) in the virus attachment, already recognized as a valuable target for neutralizing antibodies, in particular, building on a cavity mapping indicating the presence of two druggable pockets and on the recent literature hypothesizing the presence of a ganglioside-binding domain. In this perspective, we aim at proposing S1-NTD as a putative target for designing small molecules hopefully able to hamper the SARS-CoV-2 attachment to host cells.
【저자키워드】 Spike protein, galectin inhibitors, cavity mapping, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus disease 2019, Vaccine, coronavirus, immune response, Neutralizing antibodies, antibody, variant, virus, diagnostics, therapeutic, target, small molecule, glycoprotein, N-terminal domain, host cells, acute respiratory syndrome, Perspective, domain, effective therapy, single-stranded RNA virus, S1-NTD, defined, approved, induce, the SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 target, attachment, Better, the Spike, the SARS-CoV-2,