Journal of Neoplasm

The Process of SARS-CoV-2 Entering Host Cells

Entry into host cells is the first step of viral infection. A spike glycoprotein on the viral envelope of the coronavirus can bind to specific receptors on the membrane of host cells. Previous studies have shown that ACE2 may be a specific functional receptor for SARS-CoV. Zhou et al. showed that SARS-CoV-2 can enter ACE2- expressing cells, but not cells without ACE2 or cells expressing other coronavirus receptors, such as aminopeptidase N and Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 (DPP4), confirming that ACE2 is the cell receptor for SARS-CoV-2. Further studies showed that the binding affinity of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein to ACE2 is 10 to 20 fold higher than that of SARS-CoV to ACE2.

Author(s):

Olive Martin

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