Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hijikata, Atsushi
• Shionyu‐Mitsuyama, Clara
• Nakae, Setsu
• Shionyu, Masafumi
• Ota, Motonori
• Kanaya, Shigehiko
• Hirokawa, Takatsugu
• Nakajima, Shogo
• Watashi, Koichi
• Shirai, Tsuyoshi

Titel

Evaluating cepharanthine analogues as natural drugs against SARS‐CoV‐2

Ist Teil von

• FEBS open bio, 2022-01, Vol.12 (1), p.285-294

Ort / Verlag

England: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

Wiley HSS Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Cepharanthine (CEP) is a natural biscoclaurine alkaloid of plant origin and was recently demonstrated to have anti‐severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2) activity. In this study, we evaluated whether natural analogues of CEP may act as potential anti‐coronavirus disease 2019 drugs. A total of 24 compounds resembling CEP were extracted from the KNApSAcK database, and their binding affinities to target proteins, including the spike protein and main protease of SARS‐CoV‐2, NPC1 and TPC2 in humans, were predicted via molecular docking simulations. Selected analogues were further evaluated by a cell‐based SARS‐CoV‐2 infection assay. In addition, the efficacies of CEP and its analogue tetrandrine were assessed. A comparison of the docking conformations of these compounds suggested that the diphenyl ester moiety of the molecules was a putative pharmacophore of the CEP analogues. Cepharanthine is a natural biscoclaurine alkaloid of plant origin and has recently been demonstrated to have anti‐severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 activity. To evaluate the cepharanthine analogues as a potential coronavirus disease 2019 drug, we performed docking simulation and a cell‐based infection assay. From the results, the diphenyl ester moiety of the molecules was suggested for a putative pharmacophore of the cepharanthine analogues.