ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral proteins interact with the eukaryotic translation machinery, and inhibitors of translation have potent antiviral effects. We found that the drug plitidepsin (aplidin), which has limited clinical approval, possesses antiviral activity (90% inhibitory concentration = 0.88 nM) that is more potent than remdesivir against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro by a factor of 27.5, with limited toxicity in cell culture. Through the use of a drug-resistant mutant, we show that the antiviral activity of plitidepsin against SARS-CoV-2 is mediated through inhibition of the known target eEF1A (eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1A). We demonstrate the in vivo efficacy of plitidepsin treatment in two mouse models of SARS-CoV-2 infection with a reduction of viral replication in the lungs by two orders of magnitude using prophylactic treatment. Our results indicate that plitidepsin is a promising therapeutic candidate for COVID-19.
Subject(s)
Antiviral Agents/pharmacology , COVID-19 Drug Treatment , Depsipeptides/pharmacology , Peptide Elongation Factor 1/antagonists & inhibitors , SARS-CoV-2/drug effects , Adenosine Monophosphate/analogs & derivatives , Adenosine Monophosphate/pharmacology , Adenosine Monophosphate/therapeutic use , Alanine/analogs & derivatives , Alanine/pharmacology , Alanine/therapeutic use , Animals , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/virology , Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins/biosynthesis , Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins/genetics , Depsipeptides/administration & dosage , Depsipeptides/therapeutic use , Drug Evaluation, Preclinical , Female , HEK293 Cells , Humans , Lung/virology , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Mutation , Peptides, Cyclic , Phosphoproteins/biosynthesis , Phosphoproteins/genetics , RNA, Viral/biosynthesis , RNA, Viral/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/physiology , Virus Replication/drug effectsABSTRACT
The Ebola virus (EBOV) causes severe human infection that lacks effective treatment. A recent screen identified a series of compounds that block EBOV-like particle entry into human cells. Using data from this screen, quantitative structure-activity relationship models were built and employed for virtual screening of a â¼17 million compound library. Experimental testing of 102 hits yielded 14 compounds with IC50 values under 10 µM, including several sub-micromolar inhibitors, and more than 10-fold selectivity against host cytotoxicity. These confirmed hits include FDA-approved drugs and clinical candidates with non-antiviral indications, as well as compounds with novel scaffolds and no previously known bioactivity. Five selected hits inhibited BSL-4 live-EBOV infection in a dose-dependent manner, including vindesine (0.34 µM). Additional studies of these novel anti-EBOV compounds revealed their mechanisms of action, including the inhibition of NPC1 protein, cathepsin B/L, and lysosomal function. Compounds identified in this study are among the most potent and well-characterized anti-EBOV inhibitors reported to date.