Activation of STING Signaling Pathway Effectively Blocks Human Coronavirus Infection
Wei Liu, Hanako M. Reyes, June F. Yang, Yize Li, Kathleen M. Stewart, Maria C. Basil, Susan M. Lin, Jeremy Katzen, Edward E. Morrisey, Susan R. Weiss, Jianxin You
Abstract
The highly infectious and lethal SARS-CoV-2 is posing an unprecedented threat to public health. Other coronaviruses are likely to jump from a nonhuman animal to humans in the future. Novel broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics are therefore needed to control known pathogenic coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and its newly mutated variants, as well as future coronavirus outbreaks. STING signaling is a well-established host defense pathway, but its role in coronavirus infection remains unclear. In the present study, we found that activation of the STING signaling pathway robustly inhibits infection of HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2. These results identified the STING pathway as a novel target for controlling the spread of known pathogenic coronaviruses, as well as emerging coronavirus outbreaks.