Opt Lett. 2020 Oct 1;45(19):5428-5431. doi: 10.1364/OL.402897.
We show that waveguide sensors can enable a quantitative characterization of coronavirus spike glycoprotein-host-receptor binding-the process whereby coronaviruses enter human cells, causing disease. We demonstrate that such sensors can help quantify and eventually understand kinetic and thermodynamic properties of viruses that control their affinity to targeted cells, which is known to significantly vary in the course of virus evolution, e.g., from SARS-CoV to SARS-CoV-2, making the development of virus-specific drugs and vaccine difficult. With the binding rate constants and thermodynamic parameters as suggested by the latest SARS-CoV-2 research, optical sensors of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-receptor binding may be within sight.
我们表明，波导传感器可以实现对冠状病毒刺突糖蛋白与宿主受体结合的定量表征——这是冠状病毒进入人体细胞并导致疾病的过程。我们证明，此类传感器可以帮助量化并最终理解控制其与靶细胞亲和力的病毒的动力学和热力学特性，而这些特性在病毒进化过程中会发生显著变化，例如，从 SARS-CoV 到 SARS-CoV-2，这使得开发针对特定病毒的药物和疫苗变得困难。根据最新的 SARS-CoV-2 研究提出的结合速率常数和热力学参数，SARS-CoV-2 刺突蛋白-受体结合的光学传感器可能即将面世。
