Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022 Jul 7;12:905248. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.905248. eCollection 2022.
In addition to antibacterial effects, macrolide antibiotics exhibit other extensive pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities. Erythromycin estolate, one of the macrolide antibiotics, was previously investigated to effectively inhibit infections of various flaviviruses including Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus, but its antiviral effect against human coronavirus remains unknown. Thus, the current study was designed to evaluate the antiviral efficacy of erythromycin estolate against human coronavirus strain OC43 (HCoV-OC43) and to illustrate the underlying mechanisms. Erythromycin estolate effectively inhibited HCoV-OC43 infection in different cell types and significantly reduced virus titers at safe concentration without cell cytotoxicity. Furthermore, erythromycin estolate was identified to inhibit HCoV-OC43 infection at the early stage and to irreversibly inactivate virus by disrupting the integrity of the viral membrane whose lipid component might be the target of action. Together, it was demonstrated that erythromycin estolate could be a potential therapeutic drug for HCoV-OC43 infection.
除了抗菌作用外，大环内酯类抗生素还具有其他广泛的药理作用，如抗炎和抗病毒作用。红霉素依托酯是大环内酯类抗生素之一，先前的研究表明它能有效抑制多种黄病毒的感染，包括寨卡病毒、登革热病毒和黄热病病毒，但它对人类冠状病毒的抗病毒作用尚不清楚。因此，本研究旨在评估红霉素依托酯对人冠状病毒 OC43 株（HCoV-OC43）的抗病毒疗效，并阐明其潜在机制。红霉素依托酯能有效抑制不同细胞类型中的 HCoV-OC43 感染，并在无细胞毒性的安全浓度下显著降低病毒滴度。此外，红霉素依托酯被鉴定能在早期抑制 HCoV-OC43 感染，并通过破坏病毒膜的完整性不可逆地灭活病毒，其脂质成分可能是作用靶点。总之，研究表明红霉素依托酯可能是治疗 HCoV-OC43 感染的潜在药物。
