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Chen Y, Yang WH, Chen HF, Huang LM, Gao JY, Lin CW, Wang YC, Yang CS, Liu YL, Hou MH, Tsai CL, Chou YZ, Huang BY, Hung CF, Hung YL, Wang WJ, Su WC, Kumar V, Wu YC, Chao SW, Chang CS, Chen JS, Chiang YP, Cho DY, Jeng LB, Tsai CH, Hung MC. Tafenoquine and its derivatives as inhibitors for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. J Biol Chem 2022; 298:101658. [PMID: 35101449 PMCID: PMC8800562 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has severely affected human lives around the world as well as the global economy. Therefore, effective treatments against COVID-19 are urgently needed. Here, we screened a library containing Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved compounds to identify drugs that could target the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), which is indispensable for viral protein maturation and regard as an important therapeutic target. We identified antimalarial drug tafenoquine (TFQ), which is approved for radical cure of Plasmodium vivax and malaria prophylaxis, as a top candidate to inhibit Mpro protease activity. The crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro in complex with TFQ revealed that TFQ noncovalently bound to and reshaped the substrate-binding pocket of Mpro by altering the loop region (residues 139–144) near the catalytic Cys145, which could block the catalysis of its peptide substrates. We also found that TFQ inhibited human transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2). Furthermore, one TFQ derivative, compound 7, showed a better therapeutic index than TFQ on TMPRSS2 and may therefore inhibit the infectibility of SARS-CoV-2, including that of several mutant variants. These results suggest new potential strategies to block infection of SARS-CoV-2 and rising variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yeh Chen
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Drug Development Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
| | - Wen-Hao Yang
- Drug Development Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Hsiao-Fan Chen
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Li-Min Huang
- Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jing-Yan Gao
- Drug Development Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Cheng-Wen Lin
- Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Chuan Wang
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Shin Yang
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Liang Liu
- Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Mei-Hui Hou
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Ling Tsai
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Zhen Chou
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Bao-Yue Huang
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Chian-Fang Hung
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Lin Hung
- Program of Digital Health Innovation, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Wei-Jan Wang
- Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Biological Science and Technology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Wen-Chi Su
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Vathan Kumar
- Drug Development Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Chieh Wu
- School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Shih-Wei Chao
- Drug Development Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Chih-Shiang Chang
- Drug Development Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Jin-Shing Chen
- Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ping Chiang
- Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Der-Yang Cho
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Neurosurgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Long-Bin Jeng
- School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Chang-Hai Tsai
- School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; China Medical University Children's Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Mien-Chie Hung
- Drug Development Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.
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Wang YC, Yang WH, Yang CS, Hou MH, Tsai CL, Chou YZ, Hung MC, Chen Y. Structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibition by a broad-spectrum anti-coronaviral drug. Am J Cancer Res 2020; 10:2535-2545. [PMID: 32905393 PMCID: PMC7471349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 07/03/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), took tens of thousands of lives and caused tremendous economic losses. The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is a potential target for treatment of COVID-19 due to its critical role in maturation of viral proteins and subsequent viral replication. Conceptually and technically, targeting therapy against Mpro is similar to target therapy to treat cancer. Previous studies show that GC376, a broad-spectrum dipeptidyl Mpro inhibitor, efficiently blocks the proliferation of many animal and human coronaviruses including SARS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), and feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV). Due to the conservation of structure and catalytic mechanism of coronavirus main protease, repurposition of GC376 against SARS-CoV-2 may be an effective way for the treatment of COVID-19 in humans. To validate this conjecture, the binding affinity and IC50 value of Mpro with GC376 was determined by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) assay, respectively. The results showed that GC376 binds to SARS-CoV-2 Mpro tightly (KD = 1.6 μM) and efficiently inhibit its proteolytic activity (IC50 = 0.89 μM). We also elucidate the high-resolution structure of dimeric SARS-CoV-2 Mpro in complex with GC376. The cocrystal structure showed that GC376 and the catalytic Cys145 of Mpro covalently linked through forming a hemithioacetal group and releasing a sulfonic acid group. Because GC376 is already known as a broad-spectrum antiviral medication and successfully used in animal, it will be a suitable candidate for anti-COVID-19 treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Chuan Wang
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Wen-Hao Yang
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Shin Yang
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Mei-Hui Hou
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Ling Tsai
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Zhen Chou
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
| | - Mien-Chie Hung
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
- Drug Development Center, Research Center for Cancer Biology and Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
- Department of Biotechnology, Asia UnivewrsityTaichung, Taiwan
| | - Yeh Chen
- Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
- Drug Development Center, Research Center for Cancer Biology and Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical UniversityTaichung 40402, Taiwan
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