Open AccessDecoy nanoparticles protect against COVID-19 by concurrently adsorbing viruses and inflammatory cytokines
Author(s) -
Lang Rao,
Shuai Xia,
Wei Xu,
Rui Tian,
Guocan Yu,
Cheng Gu,
Pan Pan,
Meng Qian,
Xiujun Cai,
Di Qu,
Lu Lu,
Youhua Xie,
Shibo Jiang,
Xiaoyuan Chen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2014352117
Subject(s) - cytokine storm , neutralization , cytokine , virology , virus , decoy , immune system , pneumonia , coronavirus , immunology , coronaviridae , biology , receptor , covid-19 , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biochemistry , disease , pathology
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has highlighted the urgent need to rapidly develop therapeutic strategies for such emerging viruses without effective vaccines or drugs. Here, we report a decoy nanoparticle against COVID-19 through a powerful two-step neutralization approach: virus neutralization in the first step followed by cytokine neutralization in the second step. The nanodecoy, made by fusing cellular membrane nanovesicles derived from human monocytes and genetically engineered cells stably expressing angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2) receptors, possesses an antigenic exterior the same as source cells. By competing with host cells for virus binding, these nanodecoys effectively protect host cells from the infection of pseudoviruses and authentic SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, relying on abundant cytokine receptors on the surface, the nanodecoys efficiently bind and neutralize inflammatory cytokines including interleukin 6 (IL-6) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and significantly suppress immune disorder and lung injury in an acute pneumonia mouse model. Our work presents a simple, safe, and robust antiviral nanotechnology for ongoing COVID-19 and future potential epidemics.