scholarly journals Ionophore antibiotic X-206 is a potent and selective inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esben B. Svenningsen ◽  
Jacob Thyrsted ◽  
Julia Blay-Cadanet ◽  
Han Liu ◽  
Shaoquan Lin ◽  
...  

AbstractPandemic spread of emerging human pathogenic viruses such as the current SARS-CoV-2, poses both an immediate and future challenge to human health and society. Currently, effective treatment of infection with SARS-CoV-2 is limited and broad spectrum antiviral therapies to meet other emerging pandemics are absent leaving the World population largely unprotected. Here, we have identified distinct members of the family of polyether ionophore antibiotics with potent ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication and cytopathogenicity in cells. Several compounds from this class displayed more than 100-fold selectivity between viral-induced cytopathogenicity and inhibition of cell viability, however the compound X-206 displayed >500-fold selectivity and was furthermore able to inhibit viral replication even at sub-nM levels. The antiviral mechanism of the polyether ionophores is currently not understood in detail. We demonstrate, through unbiased bioactivity profiling, that their effects on the host cells differ from those of cationic amphiphiles such as hydroxychloroquine. Collectively, our data suggest that polyether ionophore antibiotics should be subject to further investigations as potential broad-spectrum antiviral agents.

Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 437
Author(s):  
Dean Gilham ◽  
Audrey L. Smith ◽  
Li Fu ◽  
Dalia Y. Moore ◽  
Abenaya Muralidharan ◽  
...  

Effective therapeutics are urgently needed to counter infection and improve outcomes for patients suffering from COVID-19 and to combat this pandemic. Manipulation of epigenetic machinery to influence viral infectivity of host cells is a relatively unexplored area. The bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) family of epigenetic readers have been reported to modulate SARS-CoV-2 infection. Herein, we demonstrate apabetalone, the most clinical advanced BET inhibitor, downregulates expression of cell surface receptors involved in SARS-CoV-2 entry, including angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 (DPP4 or CD26) in SARS-CoV-2 permissive cells. Moreover, we show that apabetalone inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro to levels comparable to those of antiviral agents. Taken together, our study supports further evaluation of apabetalone to treat COVID-19, either alone or in combination with emerging therapeutics.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Annick Barre ◽  
Els J.M. Van Damme ◽  
Mathias Simplicien ◽  
Hervé Benoist ◽  
Pierre Rougé

Seaweed lectins, especially high-mannose-specific lectins from red algae, have been identified as potential antiviral agents that are capable of blocking the replication of various enveloped viruses like influenza virus, herpes virus, and HIV-1 in vitro. Their antiviral activity depends on the recognition of glycoprotein receptors on the surface of sensitive host cells—in particular, hemagglutinin for influenza virus or gp120 for HIV-1, which in turn triggers fusion events, allowing the entry of the viral genome into the cells and its subsequent replication. The diversity of glycans present on the S-glycoproteins forming the spikes covering the SARS-CoV-2 envelope, essentially complex type N-glycans and high-mannose type N-glycans, suggests that high-mannose-specific seaweed lectins are particularly well adapted as glycan probes for coronaviruses. This review presents a detailed study of the carbohydrate-binding specificity of high-mannose-specific seaweed lectins, demonstrating their potential to be used as specific glycan probes for coronaviruses, as well as the biomedical interest for both the detection and immobilization of SARS-CoV-2 to avoid shedding of the virus into the environment. The use of these seaweed lectins as replication blockers for SARS-CoV-2 is also discussed.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangiliyandi Gurunathan ◽  
Muhammad Qasim ◽  
Youngsok Choi ◽  
Jeong Tae Do ◽  
Chankyu Park ◽  
...  

Infectious diseases account for more than 20% of global mortality and viruses are responsible for about one-third of these deaths. Highly infectious viral diseases such as severe acute respiratory (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are emerging more frequently and their worldwide spread poses a serious threat to human health and the global economy. The current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of 27 July 2020, SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 16 million people and led to the death of more than 652,434 individuals as on 27 July 2020 while also causing significant economic losses. To date, there are no vaccines or specific antiviral drugs to prevent or treat COVID-19. Hence, it is necessary to accelerate the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines to help mitigate this pandemic. Non-Conventional antiviral agents must also be considered and exploited. In this regard, nanoparticles can be used as antiviral agents for the treatment of various viral infections. The use of nanoparticles provides an interesting opportunity for the development of novel antiviral therapies with a low probability of developing drug resistance compared to conventional chemical-based antiviral therapies. In this review, we first discuss viral mechanisms of entry into host cells and then we detail the major and important types of nanomaterials that could be used as antiviral agents. These nanomaterials include silver, gold, quantum dots, organic nanoparticles, liposomes, dendrimers and polymers. Further, we consider antiviral mechanisms, the effects of nanoparticles on coronaviruses and therapeutic approaches of nanoparticles. Finally, we provide our perspective on the future of nanoparticles in the fight against viral infections.


Author(s):  
Xi Yu ◽  
Liming Zhang ◽  
Liangqin Tong ◽  
Nana Zhang ◽  
Han Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractViruses are the major aetiological agents of acute and chronic severe human diseases that place a tremendous burden on global public health and economy; however, for most viruses, effective prophylactics and therapeutics are lacking, in particular, broad-spectrum antiviral agents. Herein, we identified 2 secreted bacterial lipases from a Chromobacterium bacterium, named Chromobacterium antiviral effector-1 (CbAE-1) and CbAE-2, with a broad-spectrum virucidal activity against dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV). The CbAEs potently blocked viral infection in the extracellular milieu through their lipase activity. Mechanistic studies showed that this lipase activity directly disrupted the viral envelope structure, thus inactivating infectivity. A mutation of CbAE-1 in its lipase motif fully abrogated the virucidal ability. Furthermore, CbAE-2 presented low toxicity in vivo and in vitro, highlighting its potential as a broad-spectrum antiviral drug.


1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Hayashi ◽  
T. Hayashi ◽  
M. Arisawa ◽  
N. Morita

The effect of acacetin isolated from Scoparia dulcis and several related flavonoids on herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was studied in vitro by the method of plaque yield reduction. Among these compounds, acacetin was shown to be the most potent agent and caused dose-dependent inhibition of virus replication. Acacetin had a weak virucidal activity at higher concentrations. Analysis of early events following infection showed that attachment of the virus to host cells and penetration were unaffected by acacetin. Acacetin was found to exert strong inhibition of protein synthesis in virus-infected cells but not in uninfected cells. The transcription of immediate-early genes and translation of their transcripts were in particular almost stopped by acacetin even at a lower concentration. These selective effects can be attributed mainly to the antiviral activity of acacetin.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanori Baba ◽  
Masaaki Toyama ◽  
Norikazu Sakakibara ◽  
Mika Okamoto ◽  
Naomichi Arima ◽  
...  

Aims Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne infectious disease. SFTS is epidemic in Asia, and its fatality rate is around 30% in Japan. The causative virus severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a phlebovirus of the family Phenuiviridae (the order Bunyavirales). Although effective treatments are required, there are no antiviral agents currently approved for clinical use. Ribavirin and favipiravir were examined for their anti-SFTSV activity and found to be selective inhibitors of SFTSV replication in vitro. However, their activity was not sufficient. Therefore, it is mandatory to identify novel compounds active against SFTSV. To this end, we have established a safe and rapid assay system for screening selective inhibitors of SFTSV. Methods The virus was isolated from SFTS patients treated in Kagoshima University Hospital. Vero cells were infected with SFTSV and incubated in the presence of various concentrations of test compounds. After three days, the cells were examined for their intracellular viral RNA levels by real-time reverse transcription-PCR without extracting viral RNA. The cytotoxicity of test compounds was determined by a tetrazolium dye method. Results Among the test compounds, the antimalarial agent amodiaquine was identified as a selective inhibitor of SFTSV replication. Its 50% effective concentration (EC50) and cytotoxic concentration (CC50) were 19.1 ± 5.1 and >100 µM, respectively. The EC50 value of amodiaquine was comparable to those of ribavirin and favipiravir. Conclusion Amodiaquine is considered to be a promising lead of novel anti-SFTSV agents, and evaluating the anti-SFTSV activity of its derivatives is in progress.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Gard ◽  
R. J. Luu ◽  
C. R. Miller ◽  
R. Maloney ◽  
B. P. Cain ◽  
...  

AbstractInfluenza and other respiratory viruses present a significant threat to public health, national security, and the world economy, and can lead to the emergence of global pandemics such as from COVID-19. A barrier to the development of effective therapeutics is the absence of a robust and predictive preclinical model, with most studies relying on a combination of in vitro screening with immortalized cell lines and low-throughput animal models. Here, we integrate human primary airway epithelial cells into a custom-engineered 96-device platform (PREDICT96-ALI) in which tissues are cultured in an array of microchannel-based culture chambers at an air–liquid interface, in a configuration compatible with high resolution in-situ imaging and real-time sensing. We apply this platform to influenza A virus and coronavirus infections, evaluating viral infection kinetics and antiviral agent dosing across multiple strains and donor populations of human primary cells. Human coronaviruses HCoV-NL63 and SARS-CoV-2 enter host cells via ACE2 and utilize the protease TMPRSS2 for spike protein priming, and we confirm their expression, demonstrate infection across a range of multiplicities of infection, and evaluate the efficacy of camostat mesylate, a known inhibitor of HCoV-NL63 infection. This new capability can be used to address a major gap in the rapid assessment of therapeutic efficacy of small molecules and antiviral agents against influenza and other respiratory viruses including coronaviruses.


Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 340 (6128) ◽  
pp. 71-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Hyo Kim ◽  
Ricardo Resende ◽  
Tom Wennekes ◽  
Hong-Ming Chen ◽  
Nicole Bance ◽  
...  

Influenza antiviral agents play important roles in modulating disease severity and in controlling pandemics while vaccines are prepared, but the development of resistance to agents like the commonly used neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir may limit their future utility. We report here on a new class of specific, mechanism-based anti-influenza drugs that function through the formation of a stabilized covalent intermediate in the influenza neuraminidase enzyme, and we confirm this mode of action with structural and mechanistic studies. These compounds function in cell-based assays and in animal models, with efficacies comparable to that of the neuraminidase inhibitor zanamivir and with broad-spectrum activity against drug-resistant strains in vitro. The similarity of their structure to that of the natural substrate and their mechanism-based design make these attractive antiviral candidates.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document