Repurposing of a clinically used anti-HPV agent to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection as an intranasal formulation

Dear Editor,Fan et al.have shown that whey protein,such as that found in human,bovine,and goat milk,could effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection,but they did not identify the components in whey protein having this activity.1 Since p-lactoglobulin(P-LG)is the main component of whey protein,we herein tested the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of p-LG and 3-hydroxyphthalic anhydride(3HP)-modified P-LG(3HP-P-LG),an active component in anti-human papillomavirus(HPV)biological dressing(JB01-BD)that has been used in clinics since 2013 to block cervical infection of HPV.