Signal Transduct Target Ther . The interferon-stimulated exosomal hACE2 potently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication through competitively blocking the virus entry

[tetano]

Signal Transduct Target Ther


. 2021 May 12;6(1):189.
doi: 10.1038/s41392-021-00604-5.
The interferon-stimulated exosomal hACE2 potently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication through competitively blocking the virus entry


Junsong Zhang ^{# 1 2} , Feng Huang ^{# 2 3} , Baijin Xia ² , Yaochang Yuan ² , Fei Yu ^{1 2} , Guanwen Wang ¹ , Qianyu Chen ¹ , Qian Wang ¹ , Yuzhuang Li ² , Rong Li ² , Zheng Song ² , Ting Pan ^{2 4} , Jingliang Chen ^{2 5} , Gen Lu ⁶ , Hui Zhang ⁷



Affiliations

• PMID: 33980808
• DOI: 10.1038/s41392-021-00604-5

Abstract

Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it has become a global pandemic. The spike (S) protein of etiologic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) specifically recognizes human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) as its receptor, which is recently identified as an interferon (IFN)-stimulated gene. Here, we find that hACE2 exists on the surface of exosomes released by different cell types, and the expression of exosomal hACE2 is increased by IFN?/? treatment. In particular, exosomal hACE2 can specifically block the cell entry of SARS-CoV-2, subsequently inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and ex vivo. Our findings have indicated that IFN is able to upregulate a viral receptor on the exosomes which competitively block the virus entry, exhibiting a potential antiviral strategy.