Artemether, Artesunate, Arteannuin B, Echinatin, Licochalcone B and Andrographolide Effectively Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and Related Viruses In Vitro.

Since the first reported case caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection in Wuhan, COVID-19 has caused serious deaths and an ongoing global pandemic, and it is still raging in more than 200 countries and regions around the world and many new variants have appeared in the process of continuous transmission. In the early stage of the epidemic prevention and control and clinical treatment, traditional Chinese medicine played a huge role in China. Here, we screened out six monomer compounds, including artemether, artesunate, arteannuin B, echinatin, licochalcone B and andrographolide, with excellent anti-SARS-CoV-2 and anti-GX_P2V activity from Anti-COVID-19 Traditional Chinese Medicine Compound Library containing 389 monomer compounds extracted from traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions "three formulas and three drugs". Our discovery preliminary proved the stage of action of those compounds against SARS-CoV-2 and provided inspiration for further research and clinical applications.

Transcriptome analysis of cepharanthine against a SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus.

Antiviral therapies targeting the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are urgently required. We studied an already-approved botanical drug cepharanthine (CEP) in a cell culture model of GX_P2V, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-related virus. RNA-sequencing results showed the virus perturbed the expression of multiple genes including those associated with cellular stress responses such as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and heat shock factor 1 (HSF1)-mediated heat shock response, of which heat shock response-related genes and pathways were at the core. CEP was potent to reverse most dysregulated genes and pathways in infected cells including ER stress/unfolded protein response and HSF1-mediated heat shock response. Additionally, single-cell transcriptomes also confirmed that genes of cellular stress responses and autophagy pathways were enriched in several peripheral blood mononuclear cells populations from COVID-19 patients. In summary, this study uncovered the transcriptome of a SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus infection model and anti-viral activities of CEP, providing evidence for CEP as a promising therapeutic option for SARS-CoV-2 infection.