Identification of Promising Inhibitors Could Lead to New Antiviral Drugs to Treat COVID-19 Infections

Using the Canadian Light Source (CLS), a national research facility at the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Canada), researchers from the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) isolated promising inhibitors that could be used to treat COVID-19 infections. The rapid development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has been a major step forward in helping bring the pandemic under control. But with the rise of variants and an uneven global distribution of vaccines, COVID-19 is a disease that will have to be managed for some time. Antiviral drugs that target the way the virus replicates may be the best option for treating outbreaks of COVID-19 in unvaccinated and undervaccinated populations.

The scientists used the synchrotron at CLS remotely during the facility’s special COVID-19 call for proposals, an initiative created to support research to help fight the pandemic. The synchrotron creates light millions of times brighter than the sun that helps researchers to find very detailed information about their samples. The scientists used the CMCF beamline at the CLS to search for molecules that could stop SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID-19 - from replicating inside human cells. The team found inhibitors that target a special kind of protein called a protease, which is used by the virus to make more copies of itself. Proteases act like an axe and help the virus chop up large proteins. Without this protein, the virus would be unable to multiply and harm human health.

While COVID-19 and its cousins SARS and MERS cause serious respiratory diseases, coronaviruses are also responsible for a wide range of illnesses in humans and animals. The proteases are very similar among the different coronaviruses, according to the researchers. Over the past decade, oral antiviral medication has become more accessible to patients in need. There are oral protease inhibitors that treat and manage symptoms for diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. The research team is aiming to help make SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors available in a pill form, which would make it easier to treat COVID-19.

“It's likely that any antiviral that is developed for one coronavirus would also be a broad specificity inhibitor that could treat a variety of coronavirus infections, including those found in animals,” said Joanne Lemieux, a professor in the U of A’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. “With many people working around the world developing antivirals targeting proteases, there is very likely to be one or more antivirals on the market. This would enable ease of accessibility for people around the world, especially in regions or populations where vaccines are not an option.”

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