Aloein prevents the attachment of coronavirus spikes to the host cell

Corona virus can attack and enter the host cell through unique proteins on its surface called spike proteins. These proteins initially bind to a receptor on the surface of the host cell called ACE2. After that, the virus can enter the cell and start harnessing it to make massive copies of itself and then destroy the cell.

Aloin is a natural chemical compound found in the aloe vera plant. Through conducting a number of laboratory and computational experiments, it was found that this compound can prevent the attachment of spike proteins to the host cell. We then performed comprehensive simulations to show how aloin inhibits the binding of the spike protein to the ACE2 receptor.

Project details can be found in the following research paper:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07391102.2023.2175262

An illustrative video can be found here:

https://youtu.be/u4RvbiAXb9k