Nature: Chinese scientists have revealed the structure of THE SARS-CoV-2's main protease and found its inhibitors.

April 10, 2020 / / -- A new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been identified as coVID-19, which is responsible for the global COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
but there are no targeted treatments, and effective treatment options are still very limited.
In order to quickly identify pilot compounds for clinical use, the Rao Zi and/Yang Haitao Task Force from Shanghai University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with Jiang Hualiang Of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Institute and other organizations, launched a joint structurally assisted drug design, virtual drug screening and high-volume screening project to Identifying a new drug precursor to coVID-19 virus master protease (Mpro), the results of the study, published April 9 in Nature, are entitled "Structure of Mpro from COVID-19 virus and discovery of its inhibitors".
photo source: Luke GuddatMpro is a key SARS-CoV-2 enzyme that plays a key role in mediating virus replication and transcription and is an attractive drug target for the virus.
, the researchers identified a computer-based inhibitor, N3, through computer-aided drug design, and then determined the crystal structure of the COVID-19 virus Mpro.
Next, by combining structure-based virtual and high-volume screening, the researchers analyzed more than 10,000 compounds, including approved drugs, candidates in clinical trials, and other pharmacologically active compounds that act as Mpro inhibitors.
found that six compounds that inhibit Mpro had IC50 values between 0.67 and 21.4 m.
Ebselen also showed good antiviral activity in cell testing.
overall, the results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of this screening strategy, which can lead to the rapid detection of drug preconductives with clinical potential to respond to new infectious diseases that are not available for specific drugs or vaccines.
() References: 1 Jin, Z., Du, X., Xu, Y. et al. Structure of Mpro from COVID-19 virus and discovery of its investmentors. Nature (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2223-y2: COVID-19 drug lead treatments.