Herbal inhibitors of SARS‐CoV‐2 Mpro effectively ameliorate acute lung injury in mice. Issue 6 (22nd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Du, Xinyi; Xu, Longxin; Ma, Yiming; Lu, Shuaiyao; Tang, Kegong; Qiao, Xiangyu; Liu, Jiaqi; Wang, Xiaona; Peng, Xiaozhong; Jiang, Chengyu
• Is Part Of: IUBMB life. Volume 74:Issue 6(2022)
• Page Start: 532
• Page End: 542
• Publication Date: 2022-04-22
• Subjects: ALI/ARDS -- Mpro -- pan‐anti‐inflammatory -- SARS‐CoV‐2 -- traditional Chinese medicine; Biochemistry -- Periodicals; Molecular biology -- Periodicals; 572.8
• DOI: 10.1002/iub.2616
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1521-6543

Abstract

Abstract: Coronavirus disease 2019, a newly emerging serious infectious disease, has spread worldwide. To date, effective drugs against the disease are limited. Traditional Chinese medicine was commonly used in treating COVID‐19 patients in China. Here we tried to identify herbal effective lipid compounds from the lipid library of 92 heat‐clearing and detoxication Chinese herbs. Through virtual screening, enzymatic activity and inhibition assays, and surface plasmon resonance tests, we identified lipid compounds targeting the main protease (M pro ) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) and verified their functions. Here, we found that natural lipid compounds LPC (14:0/0:0) and LPC (16:0/0:0) could target SARS‐CoV‐2 M pro, recover cell death induced by SARS‐CoV‐2, and ameliorate acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) induced by bacterial lipopolysaccharides and virus poly (I:C) mimics in vivo and in vitro. Our results suggest that LPC (14:0/0:0) and LPC (16:0/0:0) might be potential pan remedy against ARDS.