In the light of the recent accumulated knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 and its mode of human cells invasion, the binding of viral spike glycoprotein to human Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor plays a central role in cell entry. We designed a series of peptides mimicking the N-terminal helix of hACE2 protein which contains most of the contacting residues at the binding site and have a high helical folding propensity in aqueous solution. Our best peptide mimics bind to the virus spike protein with high affinity and are able to block SARS-CoV-2 human pulmonary cell infection with an inhibitory concentration (IC50) in the nanomolar range. These first in class blocking peptide mimics represent powerful tools that might be used in prophylactic and therapeutic approaches to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

中文翻译：

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hACE2肽模拟物可阻断SARS-CoV-2肺细胞感染

根据最近对SARS-CoV-2及其人类细胞侵袭模式的积累知识，病毒刺突糖蛋白与人类血管紧张素转化酶2（hACE2）受体的结合在细胞进入中起着核心作用。我们设计了一系列模拟hACE2蛋白N末端螺旋的肽，该肽在结合位点包含大多数接触残基，并且在水溶液中具有很高的螺旋折叠倾向。我们最好的肽模拟物以高亲和力与病毒刺突蛋白结合，并能够以纳摩尔浓度的抑制浓度（IC50）阻断SARS-CoV-2人肺细胞感染。这些一流的封闭肽模拟物代表了强大的工具，可用于预防和治疗2019年冠状病毒疾病（COVID-19）的方法。