Co-crystallization and structure determination: An effective direction for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery

Safer and more-effective drugs are urgently needed to counter infections with the highly pathogenic SARS-CoV-2, cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Identification of efficient inhibitors to treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection is a predominant focus. Encouragingly, using X-ray crystal structures of therapeutically relevant drug targets (PLpro, Mpro, RdRp, and S glycoprotein) offers a valuable direction for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery and lead optimization through direct visualization of interactions. Computational analyses based primarily on MMPBSA calculations have also been proposed for assessing the binding stability of biomolecular structures involving the ligand and receptor. In this study, we focused on state-of-the-art X-ray co-crystal structures of the abovementioned targets complexed with newly identified small-molecule inhibitors (natural products, FDA-approved drugs, candidate drugs, and their analogues) with the assistance of computational analyses to support the precision design and screening of anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs.

Engineered Livers for Infectious Diseases

Engineered liver systems come in a variety of platform models, from 2-dimensional cocultures of primary human hepatocytes and stem cell-derived progeny, to 3-dimensional organoids and humanized mice. Because of the species-specificity of many human hepatropic pathogens, these engineered systems have been essential tools for biologic discovery and therapeutic agent development in the context of liver-dependent infectious diseases. Although improvement of existing models is always beneficial, and the addition of a robust immune component is a particular need, at present, considerable progress has been made using this combination of research platforms. We highlight advances in the study of hepatitis B and C viruses and malaria-causing Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax parasites, and underscore the importance of pairing the most appropriate model system and readout modality with the particular experimental question at hand, without always requiring a platform that recapitulates human physiology in its entirety.

Establishment of pseudovirus infection mouse models for in vivo pharmacodynamics evaluation of filovirus entry inhibitors

Filoviruses cause severe and fatal viral hemorrhagic fever in humans. Filovirus research has been extensive since the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Due to their high pathogenicity and mortality, live filoviruses require Biosafety Level-4 (BSL-4) facilities, which have restricted the development of anti-filovirus vaccines and drugs. An HIV-based pseudovirus cell infection assay is widely used for viral entry studies in BSL-2 conditions. Here, we successfully constructed nine in vitro pseudo-filovirus models covering all filovirus genera and three in vivo pseudo-filovirus-infection mouse models using Ebola virus, Marburg virus, and Lloviu virus as representative viruses. The pseudo-filovirus-infected mice showed visualizing bioluminescence in a dose-dependent manner. A bioluminescence peak in mice was reached on day 5 post-infection for Ebola virus and Marburg virus and on day 4 post-infection for Lloviu virus. Two known filovirus entry inhibitors, clomiphene and toremiphene, were used to validate the model. Collectively, our study shows that all genera of filoviruses can be well-pseudotyped and are infectious in vitro. The pseudo-filovirus-infection mouse models can be used for in vivo activity evaluation of anti-filovirus drugs. This sequential in vitro and in vivo evaluation system of filovirus entry inhibitors provides a secure and efficient platform for screening and assessing anti-filovirus agents in BSL-2 facilities.