ArticleMolecules (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Neuropeptides, New Ligands of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleoprotein, a Potential Link between Replication, Inflammation and Neurotransmission.
Article in Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuropeptide and cytokines expression in long COVID-19 related neuropsychological sequelae: insights into NK1R-mediated neuroinflammation andFrontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Long Neuro-COVID-19: Current Mechanistic Views and Therapeutic Perspectives.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Potential Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Strategies.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The role of Substance P in the defense line of the respiratory tract and neurological manifestations post COVID-19 infection.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
This work identifies new ligands of the nucleoprotein N of SARS-CoV-2 by in silico screening, which used a new model of N, built from an Alphafold model refined by molecular dynamic simulations. The ligands were neuropeptides, such as substance P (1-7) and enkephalin, bound at a large site of the C-terminal or associated with the N-terminal β-sheet. The BA4 and BA5 Omicron variants of N also exhibited a large site as in wt N, and an increased flexibility of the BA5 variant, enabling substance P binding. The binding sites of some ligands deduced from modeling in wt N were assessed by mutation studies in surface plasmon resonance experiments. Dynamic light scattering showed that the ligands impeded RNA binding to N, which likely inhibited replication. We suggest that the physiological role of these neuropeptides in neurotransmission, pain and vasodilation for cholecystokinin and substance P could be altered by binding to N. We speculate that N may link between viral replication and multiple pathways leading to long COVID-19 symptoms. Therefore, N may constitute a "danger hub" that needs to be inhibited, even at high cost for the host. Antivirals targeted to N may therefore reduce the risk of brain fog and stroke, and improve patients' health.
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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.