- Author:
Jaewoo HONG
1
;
Hyunjhung JHUN
;
Yeo-Ok CHOI
;
Afeisha S. TAITT
;
Suyoung BAE
;
Youngmin LEE
;
Chang-seon SONG
;
Su Cheong YEOM
;
Soohyun KIM
Author Information
- Publication Type:Review Article
- From:Immune Network 2021;21(1):e8-
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: The global crisis caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to the most significant economic loss and human deaths after World War II. The pathogen causing this disease is a novel virus called the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2). As of December 2020, there have been 80.2 million confirmed patients, and the mortality rate is known as 2.16% globally. A strategy to protect a host from SARS-CoV-2 is by suppressing intracellular viral replication or preventing viral entry. We focused on the spike glycoprotein that is responsible for the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the host cell. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration/EU Medicines Agency authorized a vaccine and antibody to treat COVID-19 patients by emergency use approval in the absence of long-term clinical trials. Both commercial and academic efforts to develop preventive and therapeutic agents continue all over the world. In this review, we present a perspective on current reports about the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 as a therapeutic target.