Article
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Mycophenolate Mofetil Is Active Against SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 Cells
Version 1
: Received: 15 April 2020 / Approved: 21 April 2020 / Online: 21 April 2020 (08:19:11 CEST)
How to cite: He, Y.; Pei, R.; Xu, Z.; Chen, Z.; Xiao, S.; Xia, H.; Xiong, J.; Zhu, W.; Zhang, B.; Shen, J. Mycophenolate Mofetil Is Active Against SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 Cells. Preprints 2020, 2020040380 He, Y.; Pei, R.; Xu, Z.; Chen, Z.; Xiao, S.; Xia, H.; Xiong, J.; Zhu, W.; Zhang, B.; Shen, J. Mycophenolate Mofetil Is Active Against SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 Cells. Preprints 2020, 2020040380
Abstract
Mycophenolate mofetil was reported to have broad in vitro activity against different viruses and had been tried in combination with IFN-β in treating MERS infection. We tested the pharmacological activity of mycophenolate mofetil using SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero cells. The half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) of mycophenolate mofetil against SARS-CoV-2 was 0.47 μM while that of remdesivir was 0.77 μM. Molecular docking results of mycophenolate mofetil to potential target proteins of COVID-19 suggested that mycophenolate mofetil might inhibit SARS-CoV-2 mainly by interacting with DHODH and IMPDH2. Furthermore, mycophenolate mofetil as an immunosuppressant may be a good therapeutic option for the management of hyperinflammation in patients with severe COVID-19. Based on its high potency against SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 cells, its good pharmacokinetics and clinical safety profile, mycophenolate mofetil deserves further exploration as potential treatment for COVID-19.
Keywords
mycophenolate mofetil; SARS-CoV-2; DHODH; IMPDH2
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Medicine and Pharmacology
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.
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