Decoy nanoparticles protect against COVID-19 by concurrently adsorbing viruses and inflammatory cytokines

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2014352117
• Publication Date: 2020-10-06T20:30:35Z
• Authors: Lang Rao; Shuai Xia; Wei Xu; Rui Tian; Guocan Yu; Chenjian Gu; Pan Pan; Qian-Fang Meng; Xia Cai; Di Qu; Lu Lu; Youhua Xie; Shibo Jiang; Xiaoyuan Chen
• Keywords: Decoy; 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Infections

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has highlighted the urgent need to rapidly develop therapeutic strategies for such emerging viruses without effective vaccines or drugs. Here, we report a decoy nanoparticle against through powerful two-step neutralization approach: virus in first step followed cytokine second step. nanodecoy, made fusing cellular membrane nanovesicles derived from human monocytes and genetically engineered cells stably expressing angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2) receptors, possesses an antigenic exterior same as source cells. By competing with host binding, these nanodecoys effectively protect infection of pseudoviruses authentic SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, relying on abundant receptors surface, efficiently bind neutralize inflammatory cytokines including interleukin 6 (IL-6) granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), significantly suppress immune disorder lung injury pneumonia mouse model. Our work presents simple, safe, robust antiviral nanotechnology ongoing future potential epidemics.