Specific plant terpenoids and lignoids possess potent antiviral activities against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus

  • J Med Chem. 2007 Aug 23;50(17):4087-95. doi: 10.1021/jm070295s.
Chih-Chun Wen  1 ,  Yueh-Hsiung Kuo ,  Jia-Tsrong Jan ,  Po-Huang Liang ,  Sheng-Yang Wang ,  Hong-Gi Liu ,  Ching-Kuo Lee ,  Shang-Tzen Chang ,  Chih-Jung Kuo ,  Shoei-Sheng Lee ,  Chia-Chung Hou ,  Pei-Wen Hsiao ,  Shih-Chang Chien ,  Lie-Fen Shyur ,  Ning-Sun Yang
Affiliations
  • 1. Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ROC.
PMID: 17663539 DOI: 10.1021/jm070295s
Abstract

In this study, 221 phytocompounds were evaluated for activity against anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) activities using a cell-based assay measuring SARS-CoV-induced cytopathogenic effect on Vero E6 cells. Ten Diterpenoids (1-10), two sesquiterpenoids (11 and 12), two triterpenoids (13 and 14), five lignoids (15-19), curcumin (20), and reference controls niclosamide (21) and valinomycin (22) were potent inhibitors at concentrations between 3.3 and 10 microM. The concentrations of the 22 compounds to inhibit 50% of Vero E6 cell proliferation (CC50) and viral replication (EC50) were measured. The selective index values (SI = CC50/EC50) of the most potent compounds 1, 5, 6, 8, 14, and 16 were 58, >510, 111, 193, 180, and >667, respectively. Betulinic acid (13) and savinin (16) were competitive inhibitors of SARS-CoV 3CL protease with Ki values = 8.2 +/- 0.7 and 9.1 +/- 2.4 microM, respectively. Our findings suggest that specific abietane-type Diterpenoids and lignoids exhibit strong anti-SARS-CoV effects.