SARS-CoV-2 invades host cells via a novel route: CD147-spike protein

Ke Wang; Wei Chen; Yu-Sen Zhou; Jian-Qi Lian; Zheng Zhang; Peng Du; Li Gong; Yang Zhang; Hong-Yong Cui; Jie-Jie Geng; Bin Wang; Xiu-Xuan Sun; Chun-Fu Wang; Xu Yang; Peng Lin; Yong-Qiang Deng; Ding Wei; Xiang-Min Yang; Yu-Meng Zhu; Kui Zhang; Zhao-Hui Zheng; Jin-Lin Miao; Ting Guo; Ying Shi; Jun Zhang; Ling Fu; Qing-Yi Wang; Huijie Bian; Ping Zhu; Zhi-Nan Chen

The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.14.988345 doi: bioRxiv preprint relationship between CD147 and SP that affects the invasion of the SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the interaction assays was conducted to clarify the interaction of the two proteins. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) assay confirmed the interaction of CD147 and SP (RBD), with an affinity constant of 1.85×10 -7 M (Figure 2A ). In Co-IP assay, anti-SP antibody and anti-CD147 antibody were used for antibody immobilization, respectively. The mIgG and rIgG were selected as negative control. Then, the mixture of His-CD147 and His-SP (RBD) was added in each group for IP, and the eluted protein was detected by western blot. The result showed that there was an interaction between CD147 and SP (RBD), which was consistent with the SPR assay ( Figure 2B ). In addition, the interaction of CD147-SP (RBD) was also confirmed by ELISA assay ( Figure 2C ). In the meanwhile, competitive inhibition assay showed that Meplazumab could competitively inhibit the binding of SP and CD147, with an IC 50 of 16.44 μg/mL ( Figure 2D ). These results confirm the interaction of CD147 and SP, indicating a novel potential route for SARS-CoV-2 to invade host cells.