Priming of SARS-CoV-2 S protein by several membrane-bound serine proteinases could explain enhanced viral infectivity and systemic COVID-19 infection.

ABSTRACT: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has already caused over a million deaths worldwide, and this death toll will be much higher before effective treatments and vaccines are available. The causative agent of the disease, the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, shows important similarities with the previously emerged SARS-CoV-1, but also striking differences. First, SARS-CoV-2 possesses a significantly higher transmission rate and infectivity than SARS-CoV-1 and has infected in a few months over 60 million people. Moreover, COVID-19 has a systemic character, as in addition to the lungs, it also affects the heart, liver, and kidneys among other organs of the patients and causes frequent thrombotic and neurological complications. In fact, the term "viral sepsis" has been recently coined to describe the clinical

SUBMITTER: Fuentes-Prior P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7834812 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature