The serotonin reuptake inhibitor Fluoxetine inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in human lung tissue.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 5890, 2021 03 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1387466
ABSTRACT
To circumvent time-consuming clinical trials, testing whether existing drugs are effective inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2, has led to the discovery of Remdesivir. We decided to follow this path and screened approved medications "off-label" against SARS-CoV-2. Fluoxetine inhibited SARS-CoV-2 at a concentration of 0.8 µg/ml significantly in these screenings, and the EC50 was determined with 387 ng/ml. Furthermore, Fluoxetine reduced viral infectivity in precision-cut human lung slices showing its activity in relevant human tissue targeted in severe infections. Fluoxetine treatment resulted in a decrease in viral protein expression. Fluoxetine is a racemate consisting of both stereoisomers, while the S-form is the dominant serotonin reuptake inhibitor. We found that both isomers show similar activity on the virus, indicating that the R-form might specifically be used for SARS-CoV-2 treatment. Fluoxetine inhibited neither Rabies virus, human respiratory syncytial virus replication nor the Human Herpesvirus 8 or Herpes simplex virus type 1 gene expression, indicating that it acts virus-specific. Moreover, since it is known that Fluoxetine inhibits cytokine release, we see the role of Fluoxetine in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients of risk groups.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Antiviral Agents
/
Fluoxetine
/
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Lung
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-021-85049-0
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS