A Highly Potent SARS-CoV‑2 Blocking Lectin\nProtein
Recep Erdem Ahan, Alireza Hanifehnezhad, Ebru Şahin Kehribar, Tuba Çiğdem Oğuzoğlu, Katalin Földes, Cemile Elif Özçelik, Nazlıcan Filazi, Sıdıka Öztop, Fahreddin Palaz, Sevgen Önder, Eray Ulaş Bozkurt, Koray Ergünay, Aykut Özkul, Urartu Özgür Şafak Şeker
Abstract
The COVID-19 (coronavirus\ndisease-19) pandemic affected more than\n180 million people around the globe, causing more than five million\ndeaths as of January 2022. SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome\ncoronavirus 2), the new coronavirus, has been identified as the primary\ncause of the infection. The number of vaccinated people is increasing;\nhowever, prophylactic drugs are highly demanded to ensure secure social\ncontact. A number of drug molecules have been repurposed to fight\nagainst SARS-CoV-2, and some of them have been proven to be effective\nin preventing hospitalization or ICU admissions. Here, we demonstrated\ngriffithsin (GRFT), a lectin protein, to block the entry of SARS-CoV-2\nand its variants, Delta and Omicron, into the Vero E6 cell lines and\nIFNAR<sup>–/–</sup> mouse models by attaching to the\nspike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Given the current mutation frequency\nof SARS-CoV-2, we believe that GRFT protein-based drugs will have\na high impact in preventing the transmission of both the Wuhan strain\nas well as any other emerging variants, including Delta and Omicron\nvariants, causing the high-speed spread of COVID-19.