Pathology

Enzyme

Hesperetin

Disease

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Biology

Virology

Chemistry

Protease

Alternative medicine

Metabolite

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2

Hesperidin

TMPRSS2

Coronavirus

Serine protease

Biochemistry

Medicine

Pharmacology

Nutrients

Hesperidin (HD) is a common flavanone glycoside isolated from citrus fruits and possesses great potential for cardiovascular protection. Hesperetin (HT) is an aglycone metabolite of HD with high bioavailability. Through the docking simulation, HD and HT have shown their potential to bind to two cellular proteins: transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which are required for the cellular entry of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Our results further found that HT and HD suppressed the infection of VeroE6 cells using lentiviral-based pseudo-particles with wild types and variants of SARS-CoV-2 with spike (S) proteins, by blocking the interaction between the S protein and cellular receptor ACE2 and reducing ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression. In summary, hesperidin is a potential TMPRSS2 inhibitor for the reduction of the SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Hesperidin Is a Potential Inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2 Infection