Work

In Silico Screening and Testing of FDA-Approved Small Molecules to Block SARS-CoV-2 Entry to the Host Cell by Inhibiting Spike Protein Cleavage

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019, but it is still active. The development of an effective vaccine reduced the number of deaths; however, a treatment is still needed. Here, we aimed to inhibit viral entry to the host cell by inhibiting spike (S) protein cleavage by several proteases. We developed a computational pipeline to repurpose FDA-approved drugs to inhibit protease activity and thus prevent S protein cleavage. We tested some of our drug candidates and demonstrated a decrease in protease activity. We believe our pipeline will be beneficial in identifying a drug regimen for COVID-19 patients.

Source: Viruses

DOI: 10.3390/v14061129

Authors: E. Sila Ozdemir, Hillary H. Le, Adem Yildirim, Srivathsan V. Ranganathan

Institutions: Oregon Health & Science University, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute

Language: English

Topic: SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research

Subfield: Infectious Diseases

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,513