Samar Sami Alkafaas, Abanoub Mosaad Abdallah, Mai H Hassan, Aya Misbah Hussien, Sara Samy Elkafas, Samah A Loutfy, Abanoub Mikhail, Omnia G Murad, Mohamed I Elsalahaty, Mohamed Hessien, Rami M Elshazli, Fatimah A Alsaeed, Ahmed Ezzat Ahmed, Hani K Kamal, Wael Hafez, Mohamed T El-Saadony, Khaled A El-Tarabily, Soumya Ghosh
Recently, COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, caused > 6 million deaths. Symptoms included respiratory strain and complications, leading to severe pneumonia. SARS-CoV-2 attaches to the ACE-2 receptor of the host cell membrane to enter. Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 entry may effectively inhibit infection. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase) is a lysosomal protein that catalyzes the conversion of sphingolipid (sphingomyelin) to ceramide. Ceramide molecules aggregate/assemble on the plasma membrane to form "platforms" that facilitate the viral intake into the cell...
February 6, 2024: BMC Public Health