Alpha-1 antitrypsin inhibits TMPRSS2 protease activity and SARS-CoV-2 infection

Wettstein, Lukas; Weil, Tatjana; Conzelmann, Carina; Müller, Janis A.; Groß, Rüdiger; Hirschenberger, Maximilian; Seidel, Alina; Klute, Susanne; Zech, Fabian; Prelli Bozzo, Caterina; Preising, Nico; Fois, Giorgio; Lochbaum, Robin; Knaff, Philip Maximilian; Mailänder, Volker; Ständker, Ludger; Thal, Dietmar Rudolf; Schumann, Christian; Stenger, Steffen; Kleger, Alexander; Lochnit, Günter; Mayer, Benjamin; Ruiz-Blanco, Yasser B.; Hoffmann, Markus; Sparrer, Konstantin M. J.; Pöhlmann, Stefan; Sanchez-Garcia, Elsa; Kirchhoff, Frank; Frick, Manfred; Münch, Jan

SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory pathogen and primarily infects the airway epithelium. As our knowledge about innate immune factors of the respiratory tract against SARS-CoV-2 is limited, we generated and screened a peptide/protein library derived from bronchoalveolar lavage for inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 spike-driven entry. Analysis of antiviral fractions revealed the presence of α(1)-antitrypsin (α(1)AT), a highly abundant circulating serine protease inhibitor. Here, we report that α(1)AT inhibits SARS-CoV-2 entry at physiological concentrations and suppresses viral replication in cell lines and primary cells including human airway epithelial cultures. We further demonstrate that α(1)AT binds and inactivates the serine protease TMPRSS2, which enzymatically primes the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein for membrane fusion. Thus, the acute phase protein α(1)AT is an inhibitor of TMPRSS2 and SARS-CoV-2 entry, and may play an important role in the innate immune defense against the novel coronavirus. Our findings suggest that repurposing of α(1)AT-containing drugs has prospects for the therapy of COVID-19.