Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, an active ingredient of Traditional Chinese Medicines, inhibits the 3CLpro activity of SARS-CoV-2.
Int J Biol Macromol
; 176: 1-12, 2021 Apr 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1062378
ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 is the etiological agent responsible for the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The main protease of SARS-CoV-2, 3CLpro, is an attractive target for antiviral inhibitors due to its indispensable role in viral replication and gene expression of viral proteins. The search of compounds that can effectively inhibit the crucial activity of 3CLpro, which results to interference of the virus life cycle, is now widely pursued. Here, we report that epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), an active ingredient of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), is a potent inhibitor of 3CLpro with half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.874 ± 0.005 µM. In the study, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 123 cases of COVID-19 patients, and found three effective Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) prescriptions. Multiple strategies were performed to screen potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro from the active ingredients of TCMs, including network pharmacology, molecular docking, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) binding assay and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based inhibition assay. The SPR assay showed good interaction between EGCG and 3CLpro with KD ~6.17 µM, suggesting a relatively high affinity of EGCG with SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro. Our results provide critical insights into the mechanism of action of EGCG as a potential therapeutic agent against COVID-19.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Catechin
/
Coronavirus 3C Proteases
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19 Drug Treatment
Type of study:
Etiology study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Int J Biol Macromol
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.ijbiomac.2021.02.012
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