Sars-CoV-2 binding receptors modulation by h2s in human airway epithelium

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 pandemic has now affected around 180 million people worldwide, accounting for more than 3.5 million confirmed deaths. Besides ongoing global vaccination, finding protective and therapeutic strategies is an urgent clinical need. SARS-CoV-2 mostly infects the host organism via the respiratory system, requiring ACE2 and TMPRSS2 to enter into target cells. [...]these surface proteins are considered potential druggable targets [1-3]. Overall, since i) SWs exposure has negligible side effects and can be directly supplied to every anatomical level of the respiratory tree;ii) inhalation of SWs are indicated as a beneficial option for the primary and secondary prevention of several respiratory conditions;iii) H2S selectively down-regulates TMPRSS2 expression in airway epithelial cells;we consider all this as a proof-of-concept that H2S -rich inhalational treatments can contribute to the protection from Sars-CoV-2 respiratory infection, ready to be tested in a dedicated clinical trial.