The interferon-stimulated exosomal hACE2 potently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication through competitively blocking the virus entry
Open Access
- 12 May 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy
- Vol. 6 (1), 1-11
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-021-00604-5
Abstract
Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it has become a global pandemic. The spike (S) protein of etiologic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) specifically recognizes human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) as its receptor, which is recently identified as an interferon (IFN)-stimulated gene. Here, we find that hACE2 exists on the surface of exosomes released by different cell types, and the expression of exosomal hACE2 is increased by IFNα/β treatment. In particular, exosomal hACE2 can specifically block the cell entry of SARS-CoV-2, subsequently inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and ex vivo. Our findings have indicated that IFN is able to upregulate a viral receptor on the exosomes which competitively block the virus entry, exhibiting a potential antiviral strategy.This publication has 63 references indexed in Scilit:
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