1. Quinolizidines as Novel SARS-CoV-2 Entry Inhibitors
- Author
-
Li Huang, Lei Zhu, Hua Xie, Jeffery Shawn Goodwin, Tanu Rana, Lan Xie, and Chin-Ho Chen
- Subjects
Quinolizidines ,SARS-CoV-2 ,Organic Chemistry ,General Medicine ,Virus Internalization ,Catalysis ,COVID-19 Drug Treatment ,Computer Science Applications ,Inorganic Chemistry ,HIV Fusion Inhibitors ,Humans ,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry ,Pandemics ,Molecular Biology ,Spectroscopy ,SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor ,aloperine ,aloperine derivatives - Abstract
COVID-19, caused by the highly transmissible severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly spread and become a pandemic since its outbreak in 2019. We have previously discovered that aloperine is a new privileged scaffold that can be modified to become a specific antiviral compound with markedly improved potency against different viruses, such as the influenza virus. In this study, we have identified a collection of aloperine derivatives that can inhibit the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells. Compound 5 is the most potent tested aloperine derivative that inhibited the entry of SARS-CoV-2 (D614G variant) spike protein-pseudotyped virus with an IC50 of 0.5 µM. The compound was also active against several other SARS-CoV-2 variants including Delta and Omicron. Results of a confocal microscopy study suggest that compound 5 inhibited the viral entry before fusion to the cell or endosomal membrane. The results are consistent with the notion that aloperine is a privileged scaffold that can be used to develop potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitors.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF