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Inhibitory effect on SARS‐CoV‐2 infection of neferine by blocking Ca 2+ ‐dependent membrane fusion
Author(s) -
Yang Yang,
Yang Peng,
Huang Cong,
Wu Yuming,
Zhou Zhe,
Wang Xuejun,
Wang Shengqi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.27117
Subject(s) - virology , coronavirus , pathogen , in vitro , lipid bilayer fusion , vero cell , biology , covid-19 , ic50 , cell culture , hek 293 cells , virus , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , disease , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biochemistry , genetics , pathology
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has focused attention on the need to develop effective therapeutics against the causative pathogen, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), and also against other pathogenic coronaviruses. In this study, we report on a kind of bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid, neferine, as a pan‐coronavirus entry inhibitor. Neferine effectively protected HEK293/hACE2 and HuH7 cell lines from infection by different coronaviruses pseudovirus particles (SARS‐CoV‐2, SARS‐CoV‐2 [D614G, N501Y/D614G, 501Y.V1, 501Y.V2, 501Y.V3 variants], SARS‐CoV, MERS‐CoV) in vitro, with median effect concentration (EC 50 ) of 0.13–0.41 μM. Neferine blocked host calcium channels, thus inhibiting Ca 2+ ‐dependent membrane fusion and suppressing virus entry. This study provides experimental data to support the fact that neferine may be a promising lead for pan‐coronaviruses therapeutic drug development.