Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2025
A Fluorogenic Peptide Cleavage Assay to Screen for Proteolytic Activity: Applications for coronavirus spike protein activation
Published on: January 9, 2019
Targeting furin, a cellular proprotein convertase, for COVID-19 prevention and therapeutics
Xia Jiang1, Dabing Li2, Mazaher Maghsoudloo3
1Key Laboratory of Epigenetics and Oncology, The Research Center for Preclinical Medicine, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China; Department of Reproductive Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China; The State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau.
Abstract:
SARS-CoV-2 has triggered an international outbreak of the highly contagious acute respiratory disease known as COVID-19. Identifying key targets in the virus infection lifecycle is crucial for developing effective prevention and therapeutic strategies against it. Furin is a serine endoprotease that belongs to the family of proprotein convertases and plays a critical role in the entry of host cells by SARS-CoV-2. Furin can cleave a specific S1/S2 site, PRRAR, on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which promotes viral transmission by facilitating membrane fusion. Hence, targeting furin could hold clinical implications for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. This review offers an overview of furin's structure, substrates, function, and inhibitors, with a focus on its potential role in SARS-CoV-2 infection.
More Related Videos
08:40Production of Pseudotyped Particles to Study Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses in a Biosafety Level 2 Setting
Published on: March 1, 2019
08:41Live Imaging and Quantification of Viral Infection in K18 hACE2 Transgenic Mice Using Reporter-Expressing Recombinant SARS-CoV-2
Published on: November 5, 2021
