PIKfyve-specific inhibitors restrict replication of multiple coronaviruses in vitro but not in a murine model of COVID-19
Abstract
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 6 million lives and continues to test the world economy and healthcare systems. To combat this pandemic, the biological research community has shifted efforts to the development of medical countermeasures, including vaccines and therapeutics. However, to date, the only small molecules approved for the treatment of COVID-19 in the United States are the nucleoside analogue Remdesivir and the protease inhibitor Paxlovid, though multiple compounds have received Emergency Use Authorization and many more are currently being tested in human efficacy trials. One such compound, Apilimod, is being considered as a COVID-19 therapeutic in a Phase II efficacy trial. However, at the time of writing, there are no published efficacy data in human trials or animal COVID-19 models. Here we show that, while Apilimod and other PIKfyve inhibitors have potent antiviral activity in various cell lines against multiple human coronaviruses, these compounds worsen disease in a COVID-19 murine model when given prophylactically or therapeutically.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s42003-022-03766-2
Entities
People
- Arup R. Chakraborty
- Brooke A. Furlong
- Donald E. Ingber
- Girija Goyal
- James Logue
- Kenneth E. Carlson
- Lauren Baracco
- Louis J Taylor
- Marisa E McGrath
- Matthew B. Frieman
- Melissa Rodas
- Melvin L. Depamphilis
- Mercy Soong
- Pranav Prabhala
- Robert Haupt
- Robert M. Johnson
- Stuart Weston
- Viktor Horváth
Organizations
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- United States Department of Defense