Department of Molecular Medicine, UF Scripps Biomedical Research, Jupiter, FL 33458, United States.
Immunology and Microbiology, UF Scripps Biomedical Research, Jupiter, FL 33458, United States.
SLAS Discov. 2023 Apr;28(3):95-101. doi: 10.1016/j.slasd.2023.01.001. Epub 2023 Jan 14.
The SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic remains a major problem in many parts of the world and infection rates remain at extremely high levels. This high prevalence drives the continued emergence of new variants, and possibly ones that are more vaccine-resistant and that can drive infections even in highly vaccinated populations. The high rate of variant evolution makes clear the need for new therapeutics that can be clinically applied to minimize or eliminate the effects of COVID-19. With a hurdle of 10 years, on average, for first in class small molecule therapeutics to achieve FDA approval, the fastest way to identify therapeutics is by drug repurposing. To this end, we developed a high throughput cell-based screen that incorporates the essential viral 3C-like protease and its peptide cleavage site into a luciferase complementation assay to evaluate the efficacy of known drugs encompassing approximately 15,000 clinical-stage or FDA-approved small molecules. Confirmed inhibitors were also tested to determine their cytotoxic properties. Medicinal chemistry efforts to optimize the hits identified Tranilast as a potential lead. Here, we report the rapid screening and identification of potentially relevant drugs that exhibit selective inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 viral 3C-like protease.
SARS 冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）大流行仍然是世界许多地区的一个主要问题，感染率仍处于极高水平。这种高流行率促使新变体不断出现，并且可能出现更能抵抗疫苗的变体，即使在高度接种疫苗的人群中也能引发感染。变异的高速进化清楚地表明需要新的治疗方法，可以临床应用以最小化或消除 COVID-19 的影响。对于一类首创小分子治疗药物平均需要 10 年才能获得 FDA 批准，因此，最快的识别治疗方法是药物再利用。为此，我们开发了一种高通量基于细胞的筛选方法，将基本的病毒 3C 样蛋白酶及其肽切割位点纳入荧光素酶互补测定中，以评估约 15000 种临床阶段或 FDA 批准的小分子的已知药物的功效。还测试了确认的抑制剂以确定其细胞毒性特性。药物化学努力优化鉴定出的 Tranylaste 作为潜在的先导化合物。在这里，我们报告了对可能具有选择性抑制 SARS-CoV-2 病毒 3C 样蛋白酶的潜在相关药物的快速筛选和鉴定。
