Jiajing Li, Yining Wang, Sajjan Rajpoot, Marla Lavrijsen, Qiuwei Pan, Pengfei Li, Mirza S. Baig
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Coronaviruses (CoVs) have long been known to infect humans, mainly alpha-CoV and beta-CoV. The vaccines developed for SARS-CoV-2 are likely not effective against other coronavirus species, whereas the risk of the emergence of new strains that may cause the next epidemic/pandemic is high. The development of antiviral drugs that are effective across different CoVs represents a viable strategy for improving pandemic preparedness. In this study, we aim to identify pan-coronaviral agents by targeting the conserved main protease (Mpro). For drug screening, the catalytic dyad of four human CoVs (HCoVs: SARS-CoV-2, and seasonal CoV NL63, OC43, and 229E) was targeted by molecular docking. The identified leading candidate theobromine, a xanthine derivative, was further tested in cell culture models of coronavirus infection. Theobromine binds strongly with the catalytic dyad (His41 and Cys144/145) of SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-NL63 Mpro, mildly with HCoV-OC43, but not with HCoV-229E. However, theobromine only shows dose-dependent inhibition in Calu3 cells inoculated with SARS-CoV-2, but not in cells inoculated with seasonal CoVs. Theobromine exerts antiviral activity against coronavirus infections potentially through targeting Mpro. However, the antiviral potency is distinct among different CoVs.
期刊介绍:
Microbiology and Immunology is published in association with Japanese Society for Bacteriology, Japanese Society for Virology, and Japanese Society for Host Defense Research. It is peer-reviewed publication that provides insight into the study of microbes and the host immune, biological and physiological responses.
Fields covered by Microbiology and Immunology include:Bacteriology|Virology|Immunology|pathogenic infections in human, animals and plants|pathogenicity and virulence factors such as microbial toxins and cell-surface components|factors involved in host defense, inflammation, development of vaccines|antimicrobial agents and drug resistance of microbes|genomics and proteomics.