High‐throughput screening assays for SARS‐CoV‐2 drug development: Current status and future directions. Issue 10 (October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xu, Tuan; Zheng, Wei; Huang, Ruili
• Is Part Of: Drug discovery today. Volume 26:Issue 10(2021)
• Page Start: 2439
• Page End: 2444
• Publication Date: 2021-10
• Subjects: High-throughput screening -- SARS-CoV-2 -- COVID-19 -- In vitro assay -- Cytopathic effect reduction assay; Drugs -- Design -- Periodicals; Drugs -- Research -- Periodicals; 615.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2021.05.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6446

Abstract

Highlights: A panel of HTS assays have been established to screen for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug leads. Data driven approaches are applied to compare anti-SARS-CoV-2 HTS assays. Multi target assays are more efficient in identifying anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds. Novel HTS assays need to be developed for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery. Abstract: In response to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a panel of assays has been developed and applied to screen collections of approved and investigational drugs for anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) activity in a quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) format. In this review, we applied data-driven approaches to evaluate the ability of each assay to identify potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 leads. Multitarget assays were found to show advantages in terms of accuracy and efficiency over single-target assays, whereas target-specific assays were more suitable for investigating compound mechanisms of action. Moreover, strict filtering with counter screens might be more detrimental than beneficial in identifying true positives. Thus, developing novel HTS assays acting simultaneously against multiple targets in the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle will benefit anti-COVID-19 drug discovery.