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. 2021 Jul 6;14(690):eabe5040. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.abe5040

Fig. 6. Antiviral mechanisms of action of polyP120.

Fig. 6

Cartoon representation to illustrate our hypothesis for the antiviral actions of polyP120 in primary human epithelial cells. PolyP120 can stimulate the proteasome-mediated degradation of ACE2 and RdRp, thus reducing the expression of the SARS-CoV-2 gRNAs and sgRNAs. Thus, polyP120 can act extracellularly through direct interactions with the host cell ACE2, which is the receptor for the S protein of SARS-CoV-2, and intracellularly through its interactions with the RdRp protein of SARS-CoV-2. PolyP120 also led to the reduced expression of the genes encoding IL-10, IL-12, IL-6, IFN-γ, and TNF-α by decreasing the phosphorylation of the NF-κB protein p65. These cytokines are typically responsible for the cytokine storm observed in patients with COVID-19.