Coronavirus Uses Spikes To Break Into Cells – Here’s How To Stop It

Forbes April 17, 2020
JV Chamary

Coronaviruses are named after the crown or ‘corona’ that surrounds each virus particle, a crown of thorns made up of spike proteins. Those spikes interact with molecules on the surface of a cell so that the virus can invade its host.

This article is not-too-technical round-up of the latest research on what we know about the viral parasite causing the ongoing COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, the key molecules involved in allowing it to invade human cells, and how scientists will exploit that information to stop the virus.

The ACE2 receptor

A virus can’t enter at any old place on a cell’s membrane as if it were bashing through the wall of a building, it has to go through...

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