ArticleCell reports2020
Furin Inhibitors Block SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Cleavage to Suppress Virus Production and Cytopathic Effects.
Article in Cell reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 164 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
164 citing papers in PubMed, 273 citations in OpenAlex.
- Relationship Between Azithromycin and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Unvaccinated Patients With COVID-19 and Preexisting Cardiovascular Disease.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2023Trial
- SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein hijacks host transcription by targeting eEF1A1.Life science alliance · 2026Article
- The Role of Furin in Hallmarks of Aneurysms: A Focus On Its Substrates.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2026Review
- Furin as a Novel Pan-Viral Therapeutic Target: Implications for Dengue and SARS-CoV-2.Viruses · 2026Review
- TMPRSS2 is dispensable for lethal SARS-CoV-2 BA.5 infection in humanized hACE2 golden hamsters.European journal of medical research · 2026Article
- From zoonotic spillover to endemicity: the broad determinants of human coronavirus tropism.mBio · 2025Review
- Molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 entry: implications for biomedical strategies.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Shedding of GPP130 by PC7 and Furin: Potential Implication in Lung Cancer Progression.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Tradeoffs between proliferation and transmission in virus evolution- insights from evolutionary and functional analyses of SARS-CoV-2.Virology journal · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 drug resistance and therapeutic approaches.Heliyon · 2025Review
- Host proteases: key regulators in viral infection and therapeutic targeting.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Internalization-related host factors of common respiratory viruses.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Broad-spectrum coronavirus inhibitors discovered by modeling viral fusion dynamics.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2025Article
- Review
- Recent advances in COVID-19-induced liver injury: causes, diagnosis, and management.Inflammopharmacology · 2024Review
- Structural insights into Furin enzyme inhibition to block SARS-CoV-2 spike protein cleavage: an in-silico approach.3 Biotech · 2024Article
- Development and Prospects of Furin Inhibitors for Therapeutic Applications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Evaluation of Potential Furin Protease Inhibitory Properties of Pioglitazone, Rosiglitazone, and Pirfenidone: An In Silico Docking and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Approach.Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Article
- Docking, MD Simulations, and DFT Calculations: Assessing W254's Function and Sartan Binding in Furin.Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Article
- Sequential glycosylations at the multibasic cleavage site of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein regulate viral activity.Nature communications · 2024Article
104 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
17 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Development of specific antiviral agents is an urgent unmet need for SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. This study focuses on host proteases that proteolytically activate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, critical for its fusion after binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), as antiviral targets. We first validate cleavage at a putative furin substrate motif at SARS-CoV-2 spikes by expressing it in VeroE6 cells and find prominent syncytium formation. Cleavage and the syncytium are abolished by treatment with the furin inhibitors decanoyl-RVKR-chloromethylketone (CMK) and naphthofluorescein, but not by the transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) inhibitor camostat. CMK and naphthofluorescein show antiviral effects on SARS-CoV-2-infected cells by decreasing virus production and cytopathic effects. Further analysis reveals that, similar to camostat, CMK blocks virus entry, but it further suppresses cleavage of spikes and the syncytium. Naphthofluorescein acts primarily by suppressing viral RNA transcription. Therefore, furin inhibitors may be promising antiviral agents for prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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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.