Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (Sep 2021)
Repurposing carrimycin as an antiviral agent against human coronaviruses, including the currently pandemic SARS-CoV-2
- Haiyan Yan,
- Jing Sun,
- Kun Wang,
- Huiqiang Wang,
- Shuo Wu,
- Linlin Bao,
- Weiqing He,
- Dong Wang,
- Airu Zhu,
- Tian Zhang,
- Rongmei Gao,
- Biao Dong,
- Jianrui Li,
- Lu Yang,
- Ming Zhong,
- Qi Lv,
- Feifei Qin,
- Zhen Zhuang,
- Xiaofang Huang,
- Xinyi Yang,
- Yuhuan Li,
- Yongsheng Che,
- Jiandong Jiang
Affiliations
- Haiyan Yan
- CAMS Key Laboratory of Antiviral Drug Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Antimicrobial Agents, NHC Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Antibiotics, Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Jing Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, China
- Kun Wang
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Huiqiang Wang
- CAMS Key Laboratory of Antiviral Drug Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Antimicrobial Agents, NHC Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Antibiotics, Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Shuo Wu
- CAMS Key Laboratory of Antiviral Drug Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Antimicrobial Agents, NHC Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Antibiotics, Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Linlin Bao
- Key Laboratory of Human Disease Comparative Medicine, Chinese Ministry of Health, Beijing Key Laboratory for Animal Models of Emerging and Remerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Comparative Medicine Center, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China
- Weiqing He
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Dong Wang
- School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Benxi 117004, China
- Airu Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, China
- Tian Zhang
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Rongmei Gao
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Biao Dong
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Jianrui Li
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Lu Yang
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Ming Zhong
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Qi Lv
- Key Laboratory of Human Disease Comparative Medicine, Chinese Ministry of Health, Beijing Key Laboratory for Animal Models of Emerging and Remerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Comparative Medicine Center, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China
- Feifei Qin
- Key Laboratory of Human Disease Comparative Medicine, Chinese Ministry of Health, Beijing Key Laboratory for Animal Models of Emerging and Remerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Comparative Medicine Center, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China
- Zhen Zhuang
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, China
- Xiaofang Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, China
- Xinyi Yang
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China
- Yuhuan Li
- CAMS Key Laboratory of Antiviral Drug Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Antimicrobial Agents, NHC Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Antibiotics, Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China; Corresponding authors.
- Yongsheng Che
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China; Corresponding authors.
- Jiandong Jiang
- Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100050, China; Corresponding authors.
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 11,
no. 9
pp. 2850 – 2858
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection severely threatens global health and economic development. No effective antiviral drug is currently available to treat COVID-19 and any other human coronavirus infections. We report herein that a macrolide antibiotic, carrimycin, potently inhibited the cytopathic effects (CPE) and reduced the levels of viral protein and RNA in multiple cell types infected by human coronavirus 229E, OC43, and SARS-CoV-2. Time-of-addition and pseudotype virus infection studies indicated that carrimycin inhibited one or multiple post-entry replication events of human coronavirus infection. In support of this notion, metabolic labelling studies showed that carrimycin significantly inhibited the synthesis of viral RNA. Our studies thus strongly suggest that carrimycin is an antiviral agent against a broad-spectrum of human coronaviruses and its therapeutic efficacy to COVID-19 is currently under clinical investigation.
