Abstract
Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 200 million individuals around the globe and caused millions of deaths. Although there are now multiple vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, their efficacy may be limited by current and future viral mutations. Therefore, effective antiviral compounds are an essential component to win the battle against the family of coronaviruses. Ginkgolic Acid (GA) is a pan-antiviral molecule with proven effective in vitro and in vivo activity. We previously demonstrated that GA inhibits Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1) by disrupting viral structure, blocking fusion, and inhibiting viral protein synthesis. Additionally, we reported that GA displays broad-spectrum fusion inhibition encompassing all three classes of fusion proteins, including those of HIV, Ebola, influenza A, and Epstein Barr virus. Here, we report that GA exhibited potent antiviral activity against Human Coronavirus strain 229E (HCoV-229E) infection of human epithelial lung cells (MRC-5). GA significantly reduced progeny virus production, expression of viral proteins, and cytopathic effects (CPE). Furthermore, GA significantly inhibited HCoV-229E even when added post-infection. In light of our findings and the similarities of this family of viruses, GA holds promising potential as an effective antiviral treatment for SARS-CoV-2.
Highlights
Published: 26 September 2021In December 2019, the first case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) was reported in Wuhan, China
The results indicated that Ginkgolic Acid (GA) inhibited HCoV-229E in a dose-dependent manner
Examining the phenotypical properties of the MRC-5 cells using a light microscope indicated that cells pretreated with higher concentrations of GA (10 and 15 μM) display a significantly decreased virus-induced cytopathic effect across six days of infection when compared to cells treated with no or lower concentrations of GA (Figure 1a)
Summary
In December 2019, the first case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. SARS-CoV-2 was rapidly recognized as a global pandemic (termed COVID-19) by the World Health Organization [1,2]. Coronavirus (CoV) is a single-stranded, enveloped virus with a positive-sense RNA genome (27-to-32kb). Spike (S) proteins, which project from the enveloped surface, are classified as class I viral fusion proteins. S proteins form a homotrimer, which is cleaved by host proteases into S1 and S2 subunits, both important in cell entry. S1 protein is responsible for receptor binding, and S2 protein plays a crucial role in membrane fusion [3,4].
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