Glycosylation, glycan receptors recognition of SARS-CoV-2 and discoveries of glycan inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2.

Weiyan YU; Yueqiang XU; Jianjun LI; Zhimin LI; Qi Wang; Yuguang DU

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Glycosylation, glycan receptors recognition of SARS-CoV-2 and discoveries of glycan inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2.

Author: Weiyan YU ¹ ; Yueqiang XU ² ; Jianjun LI ² ; Zhimin LI ¹ ; Qi WANG ³ ; Yuguang DU ²
Author Information

1. School of Biological Sciences and Engineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, Jiangxi, China.
2. State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Processing and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
3. Lung Cancer Translational Medicine Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China.
Publication Type:Review
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; glycan inhibitor; glycan receptor; glycosylation
MeSH: Antibodies, Neutralizing; Glycosylation; Heparin; Heparitin Sulfate; Humans; Polysaccharides/chemistry*; Receptors, Mitogen/metabolism*; SARS-CoV-2; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/metabolism*; COVID-19 Drug Treatment
From: Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2022;38(9):3157-3172
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: COVID-19 represents the most serious public health event in the past few decades of the 21^st century. The development of vaccines, neutralizing antibodies, and small molecule chemical agents have effectively prevented the rapid spread of COVID-19. However, the continued emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants have weakened the efficiency of these vaccines and antibodies, which brought new challenges for searching novel anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs and methods. In the process of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus firstly attaches to heparan sulphate on the cell surface of respiratory tract, then specifically binds to hACE2. The S protein of SARS-CoV-2 is a highly glycosylated protein, and glycosylation is also important for the binding of hACE2 to S protein. Furthermore, the S protein is recognized by a series of lectin receptors in host cells. These finding implies that glycosylation plays important roles in the invasion and infection of SARS-CoV-2. Based on the glycosylation pattern and glycan recognition mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2, it is possible to develop glycan inhibitors against COVID-19. Recent studies have shown that sulfated polysaccharides originated from marine sources, heparin and some other glycans display anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. This review summarized the function of glycosylation of SARS-CoV-2, discoveries of glycan inhibitors and the underpinning molecular mechanisms, which will provide guidelines to develop glycan-based new drugs against SARS-CoV-2.