PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hoffmann, Markus
AU  - Kleine-Weber, Hannah
AU  - Krüger, Nadine
AU  - Müller, Marcel
AU  - Drosten, Christian
AU  - Pöhlmann, Stefan
TI  - The novel coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV) uses the SARS-coronavirus receptor ACE2 and the cellular protease TMPRSS2 for entry into target cells
AID  - 10.1101/2020.01.31.929042
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.01.31.929042
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/01/31/2020.01.31.929042.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/01/31/2020.01.31.929042.full
AB  - The emergence of a novel, highly pathogenic coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, in China, and its rapid national and international spread pose a global health emergency. Coronaviruses use their spike proteins to select and enter target cells and insights into nCoV-2019 spike (S)-driven entry might facilitate assessment of pandemic potential and reveal therapeutic targets. Here, we demonstrate that 2019-nCoV-S uses the SARS-coronavirus receptor, ACE2, for entry and the cellular protease TMPRSS2 for 2019-nCoV-S priming. A TMPRSS2 inhibitor blocked entry and might constitute a treatment option. Finally, we show that the serum form a convalescent SARS patient neutralized 2019-nCoV-S-driven entry. Our results reveal important commonalities between 2019-nCoV and SARS-coronavirus infection, which might translate into similar transmissibility and disease pathogenesis. Moreover, they identify a target for antiviral intervention.One sentence summary The novel 2019 coronavirus and the SARS-coronavirus share central biological properties which can guide risk assessment and intervention.