{"id":232710,"date":"2026-03-06T22:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T04:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/acknowledgments-how-the-host-becomes-the-target-exploiting-an-intracellular-transport-pathway-to-treat-coronaviruses"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T04:07:20","slug":"acknowledgments-how-the-host-becomes-the-target-exploiting-an-intracellular-transport-pathway-to-treat-coronaviruses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/acknowledgments-how-the-host-becomes-the-target-exploiting-an-intracellular-transport-pathway-to-treat-coronaviruses","title":{"rendered":"Acknowledgments: How the host becomes the target: exploiting an intracellular transport pathway to treat coronaviruses:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/acknowledgments2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Editor\u2019s Note: Associate Editor Pablo Penaloza-MacMaster provides context for Long et al. on targeting the host factor HGS-viral membrane protein interaction: <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1172\/JCI200225\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1172\/JCI200225<\/a><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>While current antivirals primarily target viral proteins, host-directed strategies remain underexplored. Here, we performed a genome-wide CRISPR inhibition (CRISPRi) screening to identify the host protein, hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (HGS), facilitating the pan-coronavirus infection both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, HGS interacts with the viral membrane (M) protein, facilitating its trafficking to the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment for virion assembly. Conversely, HGS deficiency caused M retention in the ER, blocking assembly. Leveraging this interaction, we designed M-derived peptides and screened over 5,000 FDA-approved or commonly used drugs, identifying riboflavin tetrabutyrate (RTB).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: Associate Editor Pablo Penaloza-MacMaster provides context for Long et al. on targeting the host factor HGS-viral membrane protein interaction: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1172\/JCI200225 While current antivirals primarily target viral proteins, host-directed strategies remain underexplored. Here, we performed a genome-wide CRISPR inhibition (CRISPRi) screening to identify the host protein, hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (HGS), facilitating [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}