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?:abstract
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Covid-19 (SARS CoV-2) has become a deadly, world-wide pandemic Although most who are infected survive, complications from the virus can be pronounced and long-lasting To date, of all the respiratory viruses including influenza and coronaviruses, only influenza has had a drug (i e , Tamiflu) specifically targeted to treat and prevent infection As a result, additional agents that specifically target viral production and are clinically feasible are needed to alleviate respiratory viral infections The idea of using a miRNA/siRNA molecular approach for treating various diseases was postulated over a decade ago;however, only within the past few years has it become feasible One technological advancement has been the molecular linkage of lipophilic moieties to mi/siRNAs in order to bypass the need for enveloping these inhibitory RNAs in lipid-based transfection reagents, which could irritate the airway if inhaled Here we show that siRNAs and miRNAs inhibit SARS CoV-2 spike protein production in a dose-dependent manner in both HEK293 cells and a primary human airway tracheal cell line We also show that this inhibition is equally robust using a clinically relevant siRNA that does not need to be prepped with a transfection reagent
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