Heparin interacts with the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibits its activity.
Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
; 267(Pt 2): 120595, 2022 Feb 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1634631
ABSTRACT
The ability of SARS-CoV-2 to replicate in host cells is dependent on its main protease (Mpro, also called 3CLpro) that cut the viral precursor polyproteins and is a major target for antiviral drug design. Here, we showed that heparin interacts with the Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibits its activity. Protein fluorescence quenching showed that heparin strongly binds to the Mpro protein with dissociation constants KD of 16.66 and 31.60 µM at 25 and 35 °C, respectively. From thermodynamic parameters of the interaction, there are hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions between them. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) assay demonstrated that heparin inhibits the proteolytic activity of Mpro with an inhibition constant Ki of 6.9 nM and a half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 7.8 ± 2.6 nM. Furthermore, molecular docking analysis revealed that the recognition and binding groups of heparin within the active site of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro provide important new information for the characteristics of the interactions of heparin with the protease. Our finding suggested that heparin might have a potential role in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection through inhibiting Mpro activity of SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
Journal subject:
Molecular Biology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS