Fig. 3: Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2-mimicking viruses by nanodecoys.
a, Synthesis of activated NTA and its chemical structure. b, Schematic illustrating the modification of lentivirus with spike S1 to generate a SARS-CoV-2 mimic. c–e, TEM images showing lentivirus (c), SARS-CoV-2 mimic (d) and spike S1 on lentivirus using gold-nanoparticle-labelled secondary antibodies with diameters of 10 nm, in which SARS-CoV-2-mimicking viruses (yellow arrows) were attached to a nanodecoy (dotted circle) (e). Scale bar, 100 nm. f, Neutralization assay of SARS-CoV-2 mimics by nanodecoys. Data are shown as mean ± SD, n = 4 independent experiments. g, Schematic showing the experimental design. h, Nanodecoys (white) neutralize SARS-CoV-2 mimics (red) in a co-culture with lung cells (green) and macrophages. Scale bar, 50 μm. i–l, Representative confocal images of lentivirus (i), SARS-CoV-2 mimic (j), SARS-CoV-2 mimic plus LSC-nanodecoy (k) and SARS-CoV-2 mimic plus HEK-nanodecoy (l) entry into the lung cells (green). At least three images were taken. Scale bar, 50 μm. m,n, Flow cytometry analysis showing that nanodecoys inhibit the entry of SARS-CoV-2 mimic virus into the lung cells (m), and the corresponding quantitation (n). See Supplementary Fig. 18b for gating strategies. Data are shown as mean ± SD, n = 3 independent experiments. Statistical analysis was performed by one-way ANOVA with a Tukey post hoc test. Cartoon pictures in b, f and g were created with BioRender.com.
