Proteases facilitate the endosomal escape of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus during entry into host cells.

•The endosomal escapes of PEDV during the entry occur in 4 h after virus inoculation in the presence of exogenous proteases in the medium.•Without proteases in the medium, PEDV remained in the endosomes and degraded.•Inhibitors of endosome maturation or cathepsin B/L blocked PEDV entry by retaining viruses in the endosomes.