Frontiers in Chemistry (Dec 2022)

Therapeutic potential of compounds targeting SARS-CoV-2 helicase

  • Matthew T. J. Halma,
  • Matthew T. J. Halma,
  • Mark J. A. Wever,
  • Mark J. A. Wever,
  • Sanne Abeln,
  • Didier Roche,
  • Gijs J. L. Wuite

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2022.1062352
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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The economical and societal impact of COVID-19 has made the development of vaccines and drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection a priority. While the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein has been widely explored as a drug target, the SARS-CoV-2 helicase (nsp13) does not have any approved medication. The helicase shares 99.8% similarity with its SARS-CoV-1 homolog and was shown to be essential for viral replication. This review summarizes and builds on existing research on inhibitors of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 helicases. Our analysis on the toxicity and specificity of these compounds, set the road going forward for the repurposing of existing drugs and the development of new SARS-CoV-2 helicase inhibitors.

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