"The Cytotoxicity of Metformin and Misoprostol Overwhelms their Antiviral Activity in SARS-CoV-2-Infected Vero-E6 Cell Culture"

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to the acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a global health crisis that called for re-purposing of many medications. Both the implication of diabetes mellitus (DM) in increasing the risk of COVID-19-associated respiratory complications, together with the claims about the involvement of acidic pH in exacerbating acute lung injury as well as SARS-CoV-2 invasion, growth, and replication, guided our interest towards possible efficacy of antidiabetic and anti-peptic ulcer medications in such condition. The present work aimed to evaluate the safety and antiviral efficacy of the oral antidiabetic, metformin, and the anti-ulcer, misoprostol, on SARS-CoV2-infected Vero-E6 cell line.