Article
Identification of Hypericin as a Candidate Repurposed Therapeutic Agent for COVID-19 and Its Potential Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Activity
Registro en:
MATOS, Aline da Rocha et al. Identification of Hypericin as a Candidate Repurposed Therapeutic Agent for COVID-19 and Its Potential Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Activity. Frontiers in Microbiology, v. 13, Article 828984, p. 1 - 11, Feb. 2002.
1664-302X
10.3389/fmicb.2022.828984
Autor
Matos, Aline da Rocha
Caetano, Braulia Costa
Almeida Filho, João Luiz de
Martins, Jéssica Santa Cruz de Carvalho
Oliveira, Michele Gabrielle Pacheco de
Sousa, Thiago das Chagas
Horta, Marco Aurélio Pereira
Siqueira, Marilda Agudo Mendonça Teixeira de
Fernandez, Jorge Hernandez
Resumen
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the global economy and
public health. Its etiologic agent, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
2 (SARS-CoV-2) is highly transmissible, pathogenic and has a rapid global spread.
Currently, the increase in the number of new confirmed cases has been slowed down
due to the increase of vaccination in some regions of the world. Still, the rise of
new variants has influenced the detection of additional waves of rising cases that
some countries have experienced. Since the virus replication cycle is composed of
many distinct stages, some viral proteins related to them, as the main-protease (Mpro)
and RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), constitute individual potential antiviral
targets. In this study, we challenged the mentioned enzymes against compounds preapproved
by health regulatory agencies in a virtual screening and later in Molecular
Mechanics/Poisson–Bolzmann Surface Area (MM/PBSA) analysis. Our results showed
that, among the identified potential drugs with anti-SARS-CoV-2 properties, Hypericin,
an important component of the Hypericum perforatum that presents antiviral and
antitumoral properties, binds with high affinity to viral Mpro and RdRp. Furthermore,
we evaluated the activity of Hypericin anti-SARS-CoV-2 replication in an in vitro model
of Vero-E6 infected cells. Therefore, we show that Hypericin inhibited viral replication in a
dose dependent manner. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of the compound, in cultured cells,
was evaluated, but no significant activity was found. Thus, the results observed in this
study indicate that Hypericin is an excellent candidate for repurposing for the treatment
of COVID-19, with possible inhibition of two important phases of virus maturation.