1-methylpropyl-2-imidazolyl-disulfide and COVID-19

Coronaviruses (CoVs) infect both humans and animals. In humans, CoVs can cause respiratory, kidney, heart, brain, and intestinal infections that can range from mild to lethal. Since the start of the 21st century, three β-coronaviruses have crossed the species barrier to infect humans: severe-acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-1, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV). These viruses are dangerous and can easily be transmitted from human to human. Therefore, the development of anticoronaviral therapies is urgently needed. However, to date, no approved vaccines or drugs against CoV infections are available. In this review, we focus on the medicinal chemistry efforts toward the development of antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, targeting biochemical events important for viral replication and its life cycle. These targets include the spike glycoprotein and its host-receptors for viral entry, proteases that are essential for cleaving polyproteins to produce functional proteins, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase for viral RNA replication.

Topics: Antiviral Agents; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; COVID-19; Disease Outbreaks; Drug Repositioning; Humans; Virus Internalization

A new coronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the aetiological agent responsible for the 2019-2020 viral pneumonia outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Topics: Antiviral Agents; Betacoronavirus; Cells, Cultured; Coronavirus 3C Proteases; Coronavirus Infections; COVID-19; Cysteine Endopeptidases; Drug Design; Drug Discovery; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Humans; Models, Molecular; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Protease Inhibitors; Protein Structure, Tertiary; SARS-CoV-2; Viral Nonstructural Proteins