Lycorine, a non-nucleoside RNA dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor, as potential treatment for emerging coronavirus infections.
Phytomedicine
; 86: 153440, 2021 Jun.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-978384
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Highly effective novel treatments need to be developed to suppress emerging coronavirus (CoV) infections such as COVID-19. The RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) among the viral proteins is known as an effective antiviral target. Lycorine is a phenanthridine Amaryllidaceae alkaloid isolated from the bulbs of Lycoris radiata (L'Hér.) Herb. and has various pharmacological bioactivities including antiviral function.PURPOSE:
We investigated the direct-inhibiting action of lycorine on CoV's RdRp, as potential treatment for emerging CoV infections.METHODS:
We examined the inhibitory effect of lycorine on MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 infections, and then quantitatively measured the inhibitory effect of lycorine on MERS-CoV RdRp activity using a cell-based reporter assay. Finally, we performed the docking simulation with lycorine and SARS-CoV-2 RdRp.RESULTS:
Lycorine efficiently inhibited these CoVs with IC50 values of 2.123 ± 0.053, 1.021 ± 0.025, and 0.878 ± 0.022 µM, respectively, comparable with anti-CoV effects of remdesivir. Lycorine directly inhibited MERS-CoV RdRp activity with an IC50 of 1.406 ± 0.260 µM, compared with remdesivir's IC50 value of 6.335 ± 0.731 µM. In addition, docking simulation showed that lycorine interacts with SARS-CoV-2 RdRp at the Asp623, Asn691, and Ser759 residues through hydrogen bonding, at which the binding affinities of lycorine (-6.2 kcal/mol) were higher than those of remdesivir (-4.7 kcal/mol).CONCLUSIONS:
Lycorine is a potent non-nucleoside direct-acting antiviral against emerging coronavirus infections and acts by inhibiting viral RdRp activity; therefore, lycorine may be a candidate against the current COVID-19 pandemic.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Antiviral Agents
/
Phenanthridines
/
RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase
/
Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids
/
SARS-CoV-2
Topics:
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Animals
Language:
English
Journal:
Phytomedicine
Journal subject:
Complementary Therapies
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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