Zhen Zong Lim
Imperial College London, UK
Title: Exploring potential therapeutics targeting coronavirus Spike glycoproteins, and how they might be utilized for treatment of SARS CoV 2
Biography
Biography: Zhen Zong Lim
Abstract
The recent outbreak of the novel SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in a worldwide pandemic and left healthcare systems scrambling to cope with the sheer magnitude of the disease outbreak. Taxonomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 showed it to be a successor of SARS-CoV which caused the 2003 SARS pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 viral entry into host cells is similar to related coronaviruses SARS-CoV and HCoV-NL63, with all three viruses utilising Spike (S) glycoprotein to interact with ACE2 receptor. SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV S glycoprotein also shares 77-80% primary amino acid sequence identity. Several therapeutics have been developed and shown to be effective against SARS-CoV and HCOV-NL63 viral entry. As such, we investigated the therapeutics targeting SARS-CoV and HCOV-NL63 coronavirus S glycoproteins for possible usage against SARS-CoV-2.Our research has identified several therapeutics used in the treatment of SARS-CoV and HCOV-NL63 which have shown efficacy against SARS-CoV-2. These treatments can be broadly categorised by their methods of action, namely by targeting S glycoprotein production, targeting S glycoprotein priming proteases, inhibiting RBD-ACE2 interactions, S glycoprotein S2-subunit targeting therapies, cross-reactive antibodies, as well as repurposing clinically approved drugs