This technology is a group of inhibitory peptides that target the human coronavirus envelope (E) protein to block viral replication, therefore offering a therapeutic strategy to combat emerging COVID-19 variants by disrupting viral assembly and function.
The high mutagenesis rate of human coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 significantly undermines the efficacy of existing treatments by making it possible for new viral variants to escape therapeutic targeting. This creates the need for more reliable approaches to viral prevention and treatment, including the development of therapeutics capable of sustainably treating various human coronaviruses by targeting more stable components of these viruses.
This technology describes inhibitory peptides specifically designed to block the function of the coronavirus envelope (E) protein to protect against infection. In these viruses, the E protein, which is crucial for viral assembly, replication, and release from infected cells, remains highly conserved from variant to variant, and shares high similarity between various human coronaviruses— for example, the E gene in the viruses that caused COVID-19 and SARS virus shares 96% identity. Peptides capable of targeting the E protein can effectively disrupt multiple human coronaviruses from replicating and spreading, thereby offering broader protection against current and future coronavirus variants.
This technology has been validated in in vitro studies in mammalian cells and in vivo in mice.
Masayuki Yazawa, Ph.D.
Patent Pending (US20250026796)
IR CU22291, CU21015
Licensing Contact: Kristin Neuman