1. Academic Validation
  2. Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors containing P1' 4-fluorobenzothiazole moiety highly active against SARS-CoV-2

Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors containing P1' 4-fluorobenzothiazole moiety highly active against SARS-CoV-2

  • Nat Commun. 2023 Feb 25;14(1):1076. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36729-0.
Nobuyo Higashi-Kuwata 1 Kohei Tsuji 2 Hironori Hayashi 3 Haydar Bulut 4 Maki Kiso 5 Masaki Imai 5 6 Hiromi Ogata-Aoki 4 Takahiro Ishii 2 Takuya Kobayakawa 2 Kenta Nakano 7 Nobutoki Takamune 8 Naoki Kishimoto 8 Shin-Ichiro Hattori 1 Debananda Das 4 Yukari Uemura 9 Yosuke Shimizu 9 Manabu Aoki 4 Kazuya Hasegawa 10 Satoshi Suzuki 11 Akie Nishiyama 11 Junji Saruwatari 12 Yukiko Shimizu 7 Yoshikazu Sukenaga 1 Yuki Takamatsu 1 Kiyoto Tsuchiya 13 Kenji Maeda 1 Kazuhisa Yoshimura 14 Shun Iida 15 Seiya Ozono 15 Tadaki Suzuki 15 Tadashi Okamura 7 Shogo Misumi 8 Yoshihiro Kawaoka 5 6 16 Hirokazu Tamamura 2 Hiroaki Mitsuya 17 18 19
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Refractory Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 2 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 3 Department of Infectious Diseases, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
  • 4 Experimental Retrovirology Section, HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
  • 5 Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 6 The Research Center for Global Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 7 Department of Laboratory Animal Medicine, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 8 Department of Environmental and Molecular Health Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
  • 9 Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 10 Structural Biology Division, Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Hyogo, Japan.
  • 11 Department of Infectious Diseases, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Miyagi, Japan.
  • 12 Division of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
  • 13 AIDS Clinical Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 14 Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 15 Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 16 Influenza Research Institute, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
  • 17 Department of Refractory Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan. hmitsuya@hosp.ncgm.go.jp.
  • 18 Experimental Retrovirology Section, HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. hmitsuya@hosp.ncgm.go.jp.
  • 19 Kumamoto University Hospital, Kumamoto, Japan. hmitsuya@hosp.ncgm.go.jp.
Abstract

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 has continually been serious threat to public health worldwide. While a few anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics are currently available, their Antiviral potency is not sufficient. Here, we identify two orally available 4-fluoro-benzothiazole-containing small molecules, TKB245 and TKB248, which specifically inhibit the enzymatic activity of main Protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 and significantly more potently block the infectivity and replication of various SARS-CoV-2 strains than nirmatrelvir, molnupiravir, and ensitrelvir in cell-based assays employing various target cells. Both compounds also block the replication of Delta and Omicron variants in human-ACE2-knocked-in mice. Native mass spectrometric analysis reveals that both compounds bind to dimer Mpro, apparently promoting Mpro dimerization. X-ray crystallographic analysis shows that both compounds bind to Mpro's active-site cavity, forming a covalent bond with the catalytic amino acid Cys-145 with the 4-fluorine of the benzothiazole moiety pointed to solvent. The data suggest that TKB245 and TKB248 might serve as potential therapeutics for COVID-19 and shed LIGHT upon further optimization to develop more potent and safer anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics.

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