ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2032-7970
Current Organisation
Université de Sherbrooke
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Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 23-08-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-03-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-022-04661-W
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains a global public health crisis. Although widespread vaccination c aigns are underway, their efficacy is reduced owing to emerging variants of concern 1,2 . Development of host-directed therapeutics and prophylactics could limit such resistance and offer urgently needed protection against variants of concern 3,4 . Attractive pharmacological targets to impede viral entry include type-II transmembrane serine proteases (TTSPs) such as TMPRSS2 these proteases cleave the viral spike protein to expose the fusion peptide for cell entry, and thus have an essential role in the virus lifecycle 5,6 . Here we identify and characterize a small-molecule compound, N-0385, which exhibits low nanomolar potency and a selectivity index of higher than 10 6 in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in human lung cells and in donor-derived colonoids 7 . In Calu-3 cells it inhibits the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma) and B.1.617.2 (Delta). Notably, in the K18-human ACE2 transgenic mouse model of severe COVID-19, we found that N-0385 affords a high level of prophylactic and therapeutic benefit after multiple administrations or even after a single administration. Together, our findings show that TTSP-mediated proteolytic maturation of the spike protein is critical for SARS-CoV-2 infection in vivo, and suggest that N-0385 provides an effective early treatment option against COVID-19 and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 04-05-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.05.03.442520
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains a global public health crisis. Although widespread vaccination c aigns are underway, their efficacy is reduced against emerging variants of concern (VOCs) 1,2 . Development of host-directed therapeutics and prophylactics could limit such resistance and offer urgently needed protection against VOCs 3,4 . Attractive pharmacological targets to impede viral entry include type-II transmembrane serine proteases (TTSPs), such as TMPRSS2, whose essential role in the virus lifecycle is responsible for the cleavage and priming of the viral spike protein 5–7 . Here, we identify and characterize a small-molecule compound, N-0385, as the most potent inhibitor of TMPRSS2 reported to date. N-0385 exhibited low nanomolar potency and a selectivity index of 6 at inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in human lung cells and in donor-derived colonoids 8 . Importantly, N-0385 acted as a broad-spectrum coronavirus inhibitor of two SARS-CoV-2 VOCs, B.1.1.7 and B.1.351. Strikingly, single daily intranasal administration of N-0385 early in infection significantly improved weight loss and clinical outcomes, and yielded 100% survival in the severe K18-human ACE2 transgenic mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 disease. This demonstrates that TTSP-mediated proteolytic maturation of spike is critical for SARS-CoV-2 infection in vivo and suggests that N-0385 provides a novel effective early treatment option against COVID-19 and emerging SARS-CoV-2 VOCs.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
No related grants have been discovered for Pierre-Luc Boudreault.