A group from Molecular and Cellular Modeling Group, Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), 69118 Heidelberg, Germany, etc. has reported about three roles of heparin in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection with using molecular dynamics simulations.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34929169/
Heparin can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection by three mechanisms:
(1) Heparin binds the S1/S2-heparin binding domain (HBD) of spike in both the conformations, preventing furin cleavage,
(2) hinders the opening/activation of the closed spike, and
(3) acts allosterically on the hinge region associated with the movement of the RBD, while directly masking the RBD-HBD.
