Md Golam Kibria, Christy L Lavine, Weichun Tang, Shaowei Wang, Hailong Gao, Wei Shi, Haisun Zhu, Jewel Voyer, Sophia Rits-Volloch, Keerti, Caihong Bi, Hanqin Peng, Duane R Wesemann, Jianming Lu, Hang Xie, Michael S Seaman, Bing Chen
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) enters host cells by first engaging its cellular receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) to induce conformational changes in the virus-encoded spike protein and fusion between the viral and target cell membranes. Here, we report that certain monoclonal neutralizing antibodies against distinct epitopic regions of the receptor-binding domain of the spike can replace ACE2 to serve as a receptor and efficiently support membrane fusion and viral infectivity in vitro...
December 6, 2023: EMBO Reports