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Atazanavir inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication and pro-inflammatory cytokine production
Preprint
in English
| bioRxiv
| ID: ppbiorxiv-020925
ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is already responsible for far more deaths than previous pathogenic coronaviruses (CoVs) from 2002 and 2012. The identification of clinically approved drugs to be repurposed to combat 2019 CoV disease (COVID-19) would allow the rapid implementation of potentially life-saving procedures. The major protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is considered a promising target, based on previous results from related CoVs with lopinavir (LPV), an HIV protease inhibitor. However, limited evidence exists for other clinically approved antiretroviral protease inhibitors, such as atazanavir (ATV). ATV is of high interest because of its bioavailability within the respiratory tract. Our results show that ATV could dock in the active site of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, with greater strength than LPV. ATV blocked Mpro activity. We confirmed that ATV inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication, alone or in combination with ritonavir (RTV) in Vero cells, human pulmonary epithelial cell line and primary monocytes, impairing virus-induced enhancement of IL-6 and TNF- levels. Together, our data strongly suggest that ATV and ATV/RTV should be considered among the candidate repurposed drugs undergoing clinical trials in the fight against COVID-19.
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Full text:
Available
Collection:
Preprints
Database:
bioRxiv
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document type:
Preprint