Department Biomedicine, University of Basel, Petersplatz 10, 4051 Basel, Switzerland.
Medical Department, Max Zeller & Söhne AG, Seeblickstrasse 4, 8590 Romanshorn, Switzerland.
Viruses. 2022 Jan 7;14(1):106. doi: 10.3390/v14010106.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), has spread worldwide, affecting over 250 million people and resulting in over five million deaths. Antivirals that are effective are still limited. The antiviral activities of the CO extract Ze 339 were previously reported. Thus, to assess the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of Ze 339 as well as isopetasin and neopetasin as major active compounds, a CPE and plaque reduction assay in Vero E6 cells was used for viral output. Antiviral effects were tested using the original virus (Wuhan) and the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. The antiviral drug remdesivir was used as control. Pre-treatment with Ze 339 in SARS-CoV-2-infected Vero E6 cells with either virus variant significantly inhibited virus replication with IC values of 0.10 and 0.40 μg/mL, respectively. The IC values obtained for isopetasin ranged between 0.37 and 0.88 μM for both virus variants, and that of remdesivir ranged between 1.53 and 2.37 μM. In conclusion, Ze 339 as well as the petasins potently inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro of the Wuhan and Delta variants. Since time is of essence in finding effective treatments, clinical studies will have to demonstrate if Ze339 can become a therapeutic option to treat SARS-CoV-2 infections.
新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）引起的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）已在全球范围内传播，影响了超过 2.5 亿人，导致超过 500 万人死亡。目前有效的抗病毒药物仍然有限。先前已经报道了 CO 提取物 Ze 339 的抗病毒活性。因此，为了评估 Ze 339 以及主要活性化合物异戊素和新戊素抗 SARS-CoV-2 的活性，使用 CPE 和蚀斑减少测定法在 Vero E6 细胞中评估了病毒产量。使用原始病毒（武汉）和 SARS-CoV-2 的 Delta 变体测试了抗病毒作用。抗病毒药物瑞德西韦用作对照。用 Ze 339 预处理 SARS-CoV-2 感染的 Vero E6 细胞，对于两种病毒变体，病毒复制均受到显著抑制，IC 值分别为 0.10 和 0.40 μg/mL。对于两种病毒变体，异戊素的 IC 值在 0.37 和 0.88 μM 之间，瑞德西韦的 IC 值在 1.53 和 2.37 μM 之间。总之，Ze 339 和戊素类化合物均可在体外有效抑制 SARS-CoV-2 对武汉和 Delta 变体的复制。由于寻找有效治疗方法的时间至关重要，因此必须进行临床研究以证明 Ze339 是否可以成为治疗 SARS-CoV-2 感染的治疗选择。
