Polyunsaturated ω-3 fatty acids inhibit ACE2-controlled SARS-CoV-2 binding and cellular entry.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 5207, 2021 03 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1118818
ABSTRACT
The strain SARS-CoV-2, newly emerged in late 2019, has been identified as the cause of COVID-19 and the pandemic declared by WHO in early 2020. Although lipids have been shown to possess antiviral efficacy, little is currently known about lipid compounds with anti-SARS-CoV-2 binding and entry properties. To address this issue, we screened, overall, 17 polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids, as wells as lipid-soluble vitamins. In performing target-based ligand screening utilizing the RBD-SARS-CoV-2 sequence, we observed that polyunsaturated fatty acids most effectively interfere with binding to hACE2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2. Using a spike protein pseudo-virus, we also found that linolenic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid significantly block the entry of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, eicosapentaenoic acid showed higher efficacy than linolenic acid in reducing activity of TMPRSS2 and cathepsin L proteases, but neither of the fatty acids affected their expression at the protein level. Also, neither reduction of hACE2 activity nor binding to the hACE2 receptor upon treatment with these two fatty acids was observed. Although further in vivo experiments are warranted to validate the current findings, our study provides a new insight into the role of lipids as antiviral compounds against the SARS-CoV-2 strain.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Fatty Acids, Omega-3
/
Virus Attachment
/
Virus Internalization
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-021-84850-1
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