With the emergence of the third infectious and virulent coronavirus within the past two decades, it has become increasingly important to understand how the virus causes infection. This will inform therapeutic strategies that target vulnerabilities in the vital processes through which the virus enters cells. This review identifies enzymes responsible for SARS-CoV-2 viral entry into cells (ACE2, Furin, TMPRSS2) and discuss compounds proposed to inhibit viral entry with the end goal of treating COVID-19 infection. We argue that TMPRSS2 inhibitors show the most promise in potentially treating COVID-19, in addition to being a pre-existing medication with fewer predicted side-effects.

随着过去二十年第三种传染性和毒性冠状病毒的出现，了解该病毒如何引起感染变得越来越重要。这将为针对病毒进入细胞的重要过程中的漏洞的治疗策略提供信息。本综述确定了负责 SARS-CoV-2 病毒进入细胞的酶（ACE2、Furin、TMPRSS2），并讨论了旨在抑制病毒进入以治疗 COVID-19 感染的最终目标的化合物。我们认为 TMPRSS2 抑制剂在潜在治疗 COVID-19 方面表现出最大的希望，除了是一种预先存在的药物，预测的副作用较少。