Inhibition of the receptor-mediated virion attachment to a lipid membrane

The forefront of the anti-viral defence is sometimes aimed at virion attachment to a host membrane. This step or, more specifically, virion contacts with cellular membrane receptors (or, e.g., glycolipids) can be inhibited by antibodies (or specially chosen or designed compounds) via their association with virions. In this case, the full-scale attachment of virions to a host membrane occurs via a subtle interplay of the formation and rupture of multiple virion-inhibitor and virion-receptor bonds. We present a kinetic model describing this interplay and illustrating general trends in the process under consideration.