ArticleeLife2020
SARS-CoV-2 strategically mimics proteolytic activation of human ENaC.
Article in eLife, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 159 citations in OpenAlex.
- Green Synthesis Characterization and Evaluation ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- COVID-19-associated Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases: Molecular Mechanisms and the Role of IVIG Therapy.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2025Review
- SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and Molecular Mimicry: An Immunoinformatic Screen for Cross-Reactive Autoantigen Candidates.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- ENaC gene variants and their involvement in Covid‑19 severity.Biomedical reports · 2024Article
- Receptors Involved in COVID-19-Related Anosmia: An Update on the Pathophysiology and the Mechanistic Aspects.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Potential Effects of Hyperglycemia on SARS-CoV-2 Entry Mechanisms in Pancreatic Beta Cells.Viruses · 2024Review
- Inflammation in the COVID-19 airway is due to inhibition of CFTR signaling by the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Epithelial NaComprehensive Physiology · 2024Review
- Back to the Future: Immune Protection or Enhancement of Future Coronaviruses.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Causality between COVID-19 and multiple myeloma: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study and Bayesian co-localization.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2024Article
- Evidence for Molecular Mimicry between SARS-CoV-2 and Human Antigens: Implications for Autoimmunity in COVID-19.Autoimmune diseases · 2024Review
- Acute abdomen following COVID-19 vaccination: a systematic review.Clinical and experimental vaccine research · 2024Article
- Effect of SARS-CoV-2 S protein on the proteolytic cleavage of the epithelial Na+ channel ENaC.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
- Systemic lupus erythematosus: latest insight into etiopathogenesis.Rheumatology international · 2023Review
- Fibrinolytic system and COVID-19: From an innovative view of epithelial ion transport.Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie · 2023Review
- Is intestinal transport dysfunctional in COVID-19-related diarrhea?American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology · 2023Article
- The Epithelial Sodium Channel-An Underestimated Drug Target.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Regulation of Epithelial Sodium Transport by SARS-CoV-2 Is Closely Related with Fibrinolytic System-Associated Proteins.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- SARS-CoV-2 S Mutations: A Lesson from the Viral World to Understand How Human Furin Works.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Molecular mimicry is an evolutionary strategy adopted by viruses to exploit the host cellular machinery. We report that SARS-CoV-2 has evolved a unique S1/S2 cleavage site, absent in any previous coronavirus sequenced, resulting in the striking mimicry of an identical FURIN-cleavable peptide on the human epithelial sodium channel α-subunit (ENaC-α). Genetic alteration of ENaC-α causes aldosterone dysregulation in patients, highlighting that the FURIN site is critical for activation of ENaC. Single cell RNA-seq from 66 studies shows significant overlap between expression of ENaC-α and the viral receptor ACE2 in cell types linked to the cardiovascular-renal-pulmonary pathophysiology of COVID-19. Triangulating this cellular characterization with cleavage signatures of 178 proteases highlights proteolytic degeneracy wired into the SARS-CoV-2 lifecycle. Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 into a global pandemic may be driven in part by its targeted mimicry of ENaC-α, a protein critical for the homeostasis of airway surface liquid, whose misregulation is associated with respiratory conditions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.