Plitidepsin has potent preclinical efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 by targeting the host protein eEF1A
Abstract
Many host proteins play a role in the life cycle of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and some are required for viral replication and translation. There are efforts toward finding drugs that target viral proteins, but a complementary approach is to target these required host proteins. White et al. explored the antiviral activity of the cyclic depsipeptide drug plitidepsin, which targets the hosts cell's translational machinery (see the Perspective by Wong and Damania). The authors show that in cells, the drug is substantially more potent than remdesivir against SARS-CoV-2, with limited cellular toxicity. Prophylactic treatment protected mice against SARS-CoV-2 infection, so further investigation of plitidepsin as a therapeutic is warranted.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Feb 26, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.abf4058
Entities
People
- Adolfo García-Sastre
- Ajda Rojc
- Alejandro Losada
- Carles Martínez-Romero
- Elena Moreno
- Jacqueline M. Fabius
- Jyoti Batra
- Kevan M. Shokat
- Kirsten Obernier
- Kris M White
- Lisa Miorin
- Lynda Coughlan
- Marco Vignuzzi
- Marion Déjosez
- María José Guillén
- Mehdi Bouhaddou
- Melissa B. Uccellini
- Michael Schotsaert
- Nevan Krogan
- Pablo Aviles
- Raveen Rathnasinghe
- Romel Rosales
- Soner Yildiz
- Sonia Jangra
- Thomas Kehrer
- Thomas P. Zwaka
Organizations
- Freedom Together Foundation
- Gladstone Institutes
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Office of the Director
- PharmaMar
- Roddenberry Foundation
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- United States Department of Defense
- University of California
- University of California, San Francisco
- University of Maryland School of Medicine