Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Pivot Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Target Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Query: EC:3.4.24.27 (
thermolysin
)
1,894
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
A unique coronavirus
severe acute respiratory syndrome
-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was revealed to be a causative agent of a life-threatening
SARS
. Although this virus grows in a variety of tissues that express its receptor, the mechanism of the severe respiratory illness caused by this virus is not well understood. Here, we report a possible mechanism for the extensive damage seen in the major target organs for this disease. A recent study of the cell entry mechanism of
SARS
-CoV reveals that it takes an endosomal pathway. We found that proteases such as trypsin and
thermolysin
enabled
SARS
-CoV adsorbed onto the cell surface to enter cells directly from that site. This finding shows that
SARS
-CoV has the potential to take two distinct pathways for cell entry, depending on the presence of proteases in the environment. Moreover, the protease-mediated entry facilitated a 100- to 1,000-fold higher efficient infection than did the endosomal pathway used in the absence of proteases. These results suggest that the proteases produced in the lungs by inflammatory cells are responsible for high multiplication of
SARS
-CoV, which results in severe lung tissue damage. Likewise, elastase, a major protease produced in the lungs during inflammation, also enhanced
SARS-CoV infection
in cultured cells.
...
PMID:Protease-mediated enhancement of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection. 1611 1
