| Abstract: | A new coronavirus(SARS-CoV-2)has been identified as the etiologic agent for the COVID-19 outbreak.Currently,effective treatment options remain very limited for this disease;therefore,there is an urgent need to identify new anti-COVID-19 agents.In this study,we screened over 6,000 compounds that included approved drugs,drug candidates in clinical trials,and pharmacologically active compounds to identify leads that target the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease(PLpro).Together with main protease(Mpro),PLpro is responsible for processing the viral replicase polyprotein into functional units.There-fore,it is an attractive target for antiviral drug develop-ment.Here we discovered four compounds,YM155,cryptotanshinone,tanshinone I and GRL0617 that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 PLpro with IC50 values ranging from 1.39 to 5.63 pmol/L.These compounds also exhibit strong antiviral activities in cell-based assays.YM155,an anti-cancer drug candidate in clinical trials,has the most potent antiviral activity with an EC50 value of 170 nmol/L.In addition,we have determined the crystal structures of this enzyme and its complex with YM155,revealing a unique binding mode.YM155 simultaneously targets three"hot"spots on PLpro,including the substrate-binding pocket,the interferon stimulating gene product 15(ISG15)binding site and zinc finger motif.Our results demonstrate the efficacy of this screening and repur-posing strategy,which has led to the discovery of new drug leads with clinical potential for COVID-19 treatments. |
