PREreview of Extracellular vimentin as a target against SARS-CoV-2 host cell invasion

Main Claim & Relevance:

 Extracellular vimentin might be critical to SARS-CoV-2 cell entry. These researchers demonstrated direct binding between vimentin and SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles (VLPs) coated with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. They also showed that antibodies against vimentin block in vitro SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infection by up to 80% in ACE2 expressing cell lines. 

Are the findings strong, reliable, potentially informative, not informative, or misleading? Why?:

 The findings are potentially informative. Immunostaining of human adult lung and adipose tissue was done to detect the presence of vimentin. The researchers showed that vimentin binds to SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles that contain SARS-CoV-2 spike 2 protein via dynamic light scattering (DLS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). 

The manuscript also mentions that there are now numerous studies implicating the role of vimentin in the binding and uptake of multiple different viruses, including the SARS virus.

How might these ideas presented by the main claims further knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic?

They highlight extracellular vimentin as a potential therapeutic target against SARS-CoV-2 that could block the spread of COVID-19 and other potentially infectious diseases. Additionally, these researchers proposed a mechanism in which non-vimentin expressing cells can acquire vimentin released into the extracellular environment by neutrophil netosis.