2023-10-30 07:34:47
2023-10-30
New discovery about coronavirus entry receptors in human cells
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, can cause severe acute respiratory syndrome, but before its appearance in 2019, other coronaviruses were already known to be responsible for mild seasonal colds. Why will a coronavirus affect humans more severely than another coronavirus? Researchers from the Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité and VRI are now providing part of the answer by identifying the entry point for a seasonal coronavirus, the HKU1 virus, into human cells. The receptor on which HKU1 binds is different from that used by SARS-CoV-2, which could partly explain the difference in severity of these two coronaviruses. In the context of monitoring viral evolution, receptors are targets of interest for understanding the transmissibility and pathology of coronaviruses. These results will be published in the journal Nature on October 25, 2023.
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