New paper shedding light on the (lack of) interaction between human basigin and SARS-CoV-2 spike

A new study by the Draper group in collaboration with the laboratories of Nicole Zitzmann (Department of Biochemistry) and Carole Long (NIH) suggests that basigin, or CD147, does not directly interact with the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein. Basigin was previously identified as a possible therapeutic target based on the observation that it may act as a coreceptor for SARS-CoV-2, binding to the receptor binding domain of the spike protein. Our data cast doubts on the suggested role of basigin as a coreceptor and its potential as a therapeutic target.

Full publication

Ragotte RJ, Pulido D, Donnellan FR, Hill ML, Gorini G, Davies H, Brun J, McHugh K, King LDW, Skinner K, Miura K, Long CA, Zitzmann N, Draper SJ. 2021. Human basigin (CD147) does not directly interact with SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein. mSphere 6:e00647-21. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00647-21.