Fig. 1.

A brief layout illustrating the roles of IMPα/β1 in nuclear transport during normal function and upon SARS-CoV-2 infection with respect to the inhibitory activity by IVM. A) Transporting host proteins (e.g.: STAT) requires interaction with the Importin heterodimer complex (IMPα/β1) via binding at the IMPα, which subsequently brings the whole complex (IMPα/β1) to the nucleus via the nuclear pore complex (NPC), thus establishing normal transcriptional activities. B) However, this process is postulated to be hijacked by the viral protein NS12. C) IVM targets the binding site at the IMPα or binding domain at IMPβ1, leading to dissociation of the complex from the latter, halting the hijacking mechanism mentioned in B.