Blocking Sars-CoV-2 access to the cells

Cyclic peptides are a large family of bioactive compounds. Here we propose to evaluate their properties as inhibitors of the Spike-Ace2 interaction, leading to the infection of human cells in Covid19.

Comment 4

Being confronted with the current situation, and as part of the scientific community we have been lately brainstorming on possible ways of contributing to the advancement of the Covid 19 research. The main inspiration for this project came from colleagues and from past work experiences. The idea proposed is to identify in the family of cyclic peptides interactors of the viral protein Spike that are able to inhibit its binding to the human cellular receptor Ace2. Cyclic peptides are a highly interesting family of bioactive compounds often endowed with therapeutic properties and they can be genetically encoded and produced in cells as needed, using the SICLOPPS technology. As it is reported, the yeast two hybrid assay can be combined to the SICLOPPS technology to facilitate the identification of interactors of Spike. It has been shown, in fact, that it is possible to produce cyclic peptides in yeast, and Spike can be co-expressed in this host to perform the screening. Once the candidate molecule/s would have been identified, the efficacy of these cyclic peptides in inhibiting the Ace2-Spike interaction could be tested in independent experiments using, for example biolayer interferometry.

Share this project:

Updates