Potential therapies for coronaviruses

Abstract

Coronavirus replication offers several attractive targets for chemotherapy. These include: viral entry (inhibited by chloroquine and peptides); viral RNA (targeted by antisense approaches/RNAi); the main protease 3CLpro (inhibited by peptidic molecules such as HIV-1 protease inhibitors and miscellaneous compounds); the accessory protease(s) PLpro(s) (inhibited by zinc ions); RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (inhibited by aurintricarboxylic acid and antisense approaches); and helicase (inhibited by bananins). Chloroquine and HIV-1 protease inhibitors (with well-known toxicity profiles) should be considered for clinical tests if severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) re-emerges; however, there are other attractive compounds. Lessons should be learnt from AIDS research for choosing the best strategies.

Keywords::

• angiotensin-converting enzyme 2
• antiretrovirals
• aurintricarboxylic acid
• canine coronavirus
• chloroquine
• SARS-CoV
• small interfering RNAs

Acknowlegements

In part granted by the Italian Ministry of Health-ISS-Rome under a specific SARS-Project.

Notes