Antiviral efficacy of selective estrogen receptor modulators against SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro and in vivo reveals bazedoxifene acetate as an entry inhibitor.
J Med Virol 2022;
94:4809-4819. [PMID:
35733297 PMCID:
PMC9350378 DOI:
10.1002/jmv.27951]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2022] [Revised: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 06/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the seventh member of the coronavirus family that can infect humans. Recently, more contagious and pathogenic variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been continuously emerging. Clinical candidates with high efficacy and ready availability are still in urgent need. To identify potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 repurposing drugs, we evaluated the antiviral efficacy of 18 selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Six SERMs exhibited excellent anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects in Vero E6 cells and three human cell lines. Clomifene citrate, tamoxifen, toremifene citrate, and bazedoxifene acetate reduced the weight loss of hamsters challenged with SARS-CoV-2, and reduced hamster pulmonary viral load and IL-6 expression when assayed at 4 days post-infection. In particular, bazedoxifene acetate was identified to act on the penetration stage of the post-attachment step via altering cholesterol distribution and endosome acidification. And, bazedoxifene acetate inhibited pseudoviruses infection of original SARS-CoV-2, Delta variant, Omicron variant and SARS-CoV. These results offer critical information supporting bazedoxifene acetate as a promising agent against coronaviruses. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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