Discovery of chebulagic acid and punicalagin as novel allosteric inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro.
SARS-CoV-2, 3CLpro, Punicalagin, Allosteric inhibitor, Chebulagic acid
The emerging SARS-CoV-2 infection is the cause of the global COVID-19 pandemic. To date, there are limited therapeutic options available to fight this disease. Here we examined the inhibitory abilities of two broad-spectrum antiviral natural products chebulagic acid (CHLA) and punicalagin (PUG) against SARS-CoV-2 viral replication. Both CHLA and PUG reduced virus-induced plaque formation in Vero-E6 monolayer at noncytotoxic concentrations, by targeting the enzymatic activity of viral 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CLpro) as allosteric regulators. Our study demonstrates the potential use of CHLA and PUG as novel COVID-19 therapies.
Ruikun Du, Laura Cooper, Zinuo Chen, Hyun Lee, Lijun Rong, Qinghua Cui