Ingavirin might be a promising agent to combat Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Malík, Ivan; Kovac, Gustav; Padrtova, Tereza; Hudecova, Lucia

The Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2 (SARS--CoV-2) and Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the virus, have changed the world in just half a year. Lack of effective treatment, coupled with etiology of COVID-19, has resulted in more than 500,000 confirmed deaths at the time of writing, and the global economy is at an unseen unprecedented low level with unknown near- and long-term consequences. Ingavirin has been considered a non-toxic broad-spectrum antiviral with a complex mechanism of action. The molecule was originally designed for the prophylaxis and treatment of flu caused by both Influenza A and B viruses and for the treatment of viral causes of acute respiratory illness. The article hypothesized that the efficiency of given 1H-imidazol-4-yl heterocyclic scaffold-containing compound against SARS-CoV-2 might be connected with its ability to interfere with specific heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (A1, for example). These specific cellular RNA-binding proteins showed affinity to Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) nucleocapsid (N) protein, which shared high homology with the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 and the fact was expressed by a sequence identity of 90.52%. Impairing of the interactions between nuclear ribonucleoproteins and nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2 might result in the inhibition of a viral replication cycle. Additional immunomodulating properties of ingavirin could be favorable for induction of adaptive immunity of host cells.