CHICAGO, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- To contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, a study of the University of Illinois (UI) suggests luring the virus with a decoy - an engineered, free-floating receptor protein - that binds the virus and blocks infection.
To infect a human cell, a virus must first bind to a receptor protein on the surface of the cell. SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, binds to a receptor called ACE2, which plays a number of roles in regulating blood pressure, blood volume, and inflammation. It is found in tissues throughout the body, but especially in the lungs, heart, arteries, kidneys and intestines.