A Highly Potent SARS-CoV-2 Blocking Lectin Protein

Ahan, R. E.; Hanifehnezhad, A.; Sahin Kehribar, E.; Oguzoglu, T. C.; Foldes, K.; Ozcelik, C. E.; Filazi, N.; Oztop, S.; Onder, S. C.; Bozkurt, E. U.; Ergunay, K.; Ozkul, A.; Seker, U.

doi:10.1101/2021.07.22.453309

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.07.22.453309

A Highly Potent SARS-CoV-2 Blocking Lectin Protein

Ahan, R. E.·Hanifehnezhad, A.·Sahin Kehribar, E.·Oguzoglu, T. C.·Foldes, K.·Ozcelik, C. E.·Filazi, N.·Oztop, S.·Onder, S. C.·Bozkurt, E. U.·Ergunay, K.·Ozkul, A.·Seker, U.

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Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic effected more than 180 million people around the globe causing more than four million deaths as of July 2021. Sars-CoV-2, the new coronavirus, has been identified as the primary cause of the infection. The number of vaccinated people is increasing however prophylactic drugs are highly demanded to ensure a secure social contact. There have been a number of drug molecules repurposed to fight against Sars-CoV-2, however the proofs for the effectiveness of these drug candidates is limited. Here we demonstrated griffithsin (GRFT), a lectin protein, to block the entry of the Sars-CoV2 into the Vero6 cell lines and IFNAR-/-mouse models by attaching to spike protein of the Sars-CoV-2. Given the current mutation frequency of the Sars-CoV-2 we believe that GRFT protein-based drugs will have a high impact in preventing the transmission both on Wuhan strain as well as any other emerging variants including delta variant causing high speed spread of COVID-19.

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Ahan, R. E., Hanifehnezhad, A., Sahin Kehribar, E., Oguzoglu, T. C., Foldes, K., Ozcelik, C. E., Filazi, N., Oztop, S., Onder, S. C., Bozkurt, E. U., Ergunay, K., Ozkul, A., Seker, U.. 2021-07-23. A Highly Potent SARS-CoV-2 Blocking Lectin Protein. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.22.453309

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