Fig. 2

TAT-peptides inhibit SARS-CoV-2 S protein-mediated cell–cell fusion in HEK293T cells. A Sample microscopic images of SARS-CoV-2 S protein-mediated cell–cell fusion in HEK293T cells treated with either vehicle (Control), ACE2 antibody (2 µg/ml, 1 h), TAT alone, TAT-ACE2-1, TAT-ACE2-2, TAT-ACE2-3, TAT-S1/S2, or TAT-S2 peptides at 10 µM (scale bar: 100 µm). White arrows indicate the fused cells. B TAT-ACE2-1, TAT-ACE2-2, TAT-ACE2-3, TAT-S1/S2, TAT-S2, or ACE2 antibody each inhibit SARS-CoV-2 S protein-mediated cell–cell fusion. The number of fused cells was expressed as a fraction of total cell number in the same image. Data are shown as mean ± SEM, and presented as the percentage of the control (vehicle) samples. n = 10 – 21 images for each group, one-way ANOVA test followed by Dunnett’s post hoc test. ****p < 0.0001 as compared to control (vehicle) samples