spike protein

noun

variants or less commonly spike glycoprotein

plural spike proteins also spike glycoproteins

: a glycoprotein that protrudes from the envelope of some viruses (such as a coronavirus) and facilitates entry of the virion into a host cell by binding to a receptor on the surface of a host cell followed by fusion of the viral and host cell membranes

Like a key in a lock, these spike proteins fuse to receptors on the surface of cells, allowing the virus's genetic code to invade the host cell, take over its machinery and replicate.

—Bruce Lieberman

Their results, published in Science, confirm that the spike protein on the virus that causes COVID-19 is quite similar to that of its close relative, the SARS virus.

—Francis Collins

Using a powerful imaging technique … , researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Weill Cornell Medical College and Yale University School of Medicine observed the motions of key proteins on the surface of HIV called spike proteins.

—Emily Mullin

called also S protein

Examples of spike protein in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While the mRNA vaccines contain mRNA that then go into your cells and serve as blueprints for you cells to produce the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the Novavax vaccine includes a version of the spike protein itself. —Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 6 Sep. 2024

In the Covid vaccines, the mRNA codes for a part of the virus known as the spike protein. —Emily Mullin, WIRED, 22 Aug. 2024

The body recognizes these spike proteins as foreign and generates antibodies and other defenders against it. —Emily Mullin, WIRED, 22 Aug. 2024

For the coming season, two of the shots will be based on mRNA technology, from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, and one, from Novavax, will be protein-based and include a portion of the COVID-19 virus spike protein. —Alice Park, TIME, 28 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1969, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

spike protein

noun

variants also spike glycoprotein

: a glycoprotein that protrudes from the envelope of some viruses (as a coronavirus) and facilitates entry of the virion into a host cell by binding to a receptor on the surface of a host cell followed by fusion of the viral and host cell membranes

called also S protein