Version 1
: Received: 18 March 2020 / Approved: 20 March 2020 / Online: 20 March 2020 (03:55:55 CET)
How to cite:
Nabirotchkin, S.; Peluffo, A. E.; Bouaziz, J.; Cohen, D. Focusing on the Unfolded Protein Response and Autophagy Related Pathways to Reposition Common Approved Drugs against COVID-19. Preprints2020, 2020030302. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202003.0302.v1
Nabirotchkin, S.; Peluffo, A. E.; Bouaziz, J.; Cohen, D. Focusing on the Unfolded Protein Response and Autophagy Related Pathways to Reposition Common Approved Drugs against COVID-19. Preprints 2020, 2020030302. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202003.0302.v1
Nabirotchkin, S.; Peluffo, A. E.; Bouaziz, J.; Cohen, D. Focusing on the Unfolded Protein Response and Autophagy Related Pathways to Reposition Common Approved Drugs against COVID-19. Preprints2020, 2020030302. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202003.0302.v1
APA Style
Nabirotchkin, S., Peluffo, A. E., Bouaziz, J., & Cohen, D. (2020). Focusing on the Unfolded Protein Response and Autophagy Related Pathways to Reposition Common Approved Drugs against COVID-19. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202003.0302.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Nabirotchkin, S., Jan Bouaziz and Daniel Cohen. 2020 "Focusing on the Unfolded Protein Response and Autophagy Related Pathways to Reposition Common Approved Drugs against COVID-19" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202003.0302.v1
Abstract
More than 179,000 individuals have fallen ill of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which first emerged in China less than four months ago in December 2019. As of today, there exist no approved treatments against COVID-19. Vaccines are being developed, but they will take time, at least one year, to reach the population. Drug repositioning represents a fast track because already approved medicines have been broadly tested through multiple trials. We developed a repositioning strategy that mostly leads to candidates that are commonly used. The advantages are that they will facilitate proof of concept in humans through a “real-world evidence” approach and should be rapidly available to the population. We focus on the established research results that the unfolded protein response (UPR) and autophagy pathways of the host cells are essential to the life cycle of previously known coronaviruses. We performed the relevant bioinformatics analysis to understand and confirm if SARS-CoV-2 may interact with these druggable pathways. Based on these considerations, we prioritized two additional druggable pathways, which are important to the viral life cycle and tightly connected to UPR/autophagy signaling: the mitochondrial permeability transition pores (MPTP) and NLRP-3 inflammasome pathways. These four important pathways are perturbed in most major common diseases and have therefore been targeted by numerous broadly prescribed drugs. We have identified 97 approved drugs that are known to modulate these four identified pathways, and which represent, therefore, interesting repositioning candidates. Although it is indisputable that these drugs should never be used for immediate self-medication against COVID-19, we notice that some of them could also be prescribed to individuals who have COVID-19 comorbidities (e.g., hypertension). It is debated if these comorbidities are linked to the pathology itself (e.g., hypertension) or the drugs used to treat the pathology (e.g., sartans). Therefore, relevant preclinical tests and massive electronic health records (i.e., real-world evidence) must be used to pre-screen them and check the COVID-19 prognosis of individuals taking these drugs.
Medicine and Pharmacology, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
