Development of a mutant aerosolized ACE2 that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 in vivo

The rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants highlights the need for new therapies to prevent disease spread. SARS-CoV-2, like SARS-CoV-1, uses the human cell surface protein angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as its native receptor. Here, we design and characterize a mutant ACE2 that enables rapid affinity purification of a dimeric protein by altering the active site to prevent autoproteolytic digestion of a C-terminal His