SARS-CoV-2 variant-specific enhancement of dendritic heparan sulfate mimetic antiviral activities
values > 100 μM). These findings highlighted the variant-specific differences in HS mimetics' binding affinities and showcase their potential for development as antivirals against SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, an examination of the direct-acting antiviral nirmatrelvir in combination with Tet-ST-12 revealed strong synergy (Bliss score >20), enabling significant dose reductions to achieve similar inhibition of Omicron BA.1 infectivity, while raising the barrier to the evolution of antiviral resistance. This study demonstrates the potential for the dendritic HS mimetics as antiviral candidates against SARS-CoV-2 and its evolving variants.
Authors
- Phillip M. Rendle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2825-8746)
- Shabihah Shahrudin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8478-7562)
- Caroline L. Ashley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8355-8891)
- Megan Steain (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7631-4204)
- Carol Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0225-8307)
- John Taylor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1044-5439)
- Natalie E. Netzler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2259-3447)
- Nicholas J. Shields (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2990-0478)
- Olga V. Zubkova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7893-8419)
- Ye Li
- Rory Devlin
- Sam Spijkers-Shaw
- Blake Sullivan-Hill
Institutions
- GNS Science (NZ)
- Northeastern University (US)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Maurice Wilkins Centre (NZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Virology
- Published
- 2026-04-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2026.110915
- Primary Topic
- SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery
- Health Research Council of New Zealand