hACE2 peptide mimics block SARS-CoV-2 Pulmonary Cells Infection

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).