Ziarnik Matthew, Hou Decheng, Zhang Xiaohui Frank, Jagota Anand
Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, United States.
Langmuir. 2025 Jul 15;41(27):17716-17724. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c01395. Epub 2025 Jul 3.
The interaction of viruses with cells is mediated by the glycocalyx, a ubiquitous cell coating layer. Here, we present a study of the effects of the cellular glycocalyx, a complex outer cell structure, on viral internalization. Using both simulations and experiments, we have shown that the structure of the glycocalyx, specifically the number of cross-links within it, can greatly influence the ability of a virus to infect a cell. We show that the presence of the glycocalyx plays a direct role in viral internalization, and targeting the glycocalyx can be a potential avenue for future therapies. Overall, by comparison with experimental results, we conclude that a brush-like glycocalyx model is the more appropriate computational model compared to its partially cross-linked versions.
病毒与细胞的相互作用是由糖萼介导的，糖萼是一种普遍存在的细胞涂层。在此，我们展示了一项关于细胞糖萼（一种复杂的细胞外部结构）对病毒内化作用影响的研究。通过模拟和实验，我们表明糖萼的结构，特别是其中交联的数量，会极大地影响病毒感染细胞的能力。我们发现糖萼的存在在病毒内化过程中起直接作用，靶向糖萼可能是未来治疗的一个潜在途径。总体而言，通过与实验结果比较，我们得出结论，与部分交联版本相比，刷状糖萼模型是更合适的计算模型。
