ALG-097111, a potent and selective SARS-CoV-2 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease inhibitor exhibits in vivo efficacy in a Syrian Hamster model

This article has been Reviewed by the following groups

Read the full article See related articles

Discuss this preprint

Start a discussion What are Sciety discussions?

Abstract

There is an urgent need for antivirals targeting the SARS-CoV-2 virus to fight the current COVID-19 pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (3CLpro) represents a promising target for antiviral therapy. The lack of selectivity for some of the reported 3CLpro inhibitors, specifically versus cathepsin L, raises potential safety and efficacy concerns. ALG-097111 potently inhibited SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro (IC 50 = 7 nM) without affecting the activity of human cathepsin L (IC 50 > 10 μM). When ALG-097111 was dosed in hamsters challenged with SARS-CoV-2, a robust and significant 3.5 log 10 (RNA copies/mg) reduction of the viral RNA copies and 3.7 log 10 (TCID50/mg) reduction in the infectious virus titers in the lungs was observed. These results provide the first in vivo validation for the SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro as a promising therapeutic target for selective small molecule inhibitors.

Article activity feed

  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2021.02.14.431129: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Human β-coronavirus OC43 assay: The human beta-coronavirus OC43 assay in HeLa cells was performed as previously described.
    HeLa
    suggested: CLS Cat# 300194/p772_HeLa, RRID:CVCL_0030)
    [13] Human α-Coronavirus 229E assay: The human alpha-coronavirus 229E was purchased from Virapur (San Diego, CA) and propagated using MRC-5 human lung fibroblast cells (ATCC).
    MRC-5
    suggested: ICLC Cat# HL95001, RRID:CVCL_0440)
    Huh7 cells (JCRB cell Bank) were cultured using DMEM media, supplemented with 10 % fetal bovine serum (FBS), 1% (v/v
    Huh7
    suggested: None
    SARS-CoV-2 nanoluciferase assay in human ACE-2 expressing A549 cells: The SARS-CoV-2 nanoluciferase assay using A549 cells expressing the human ACE-2 receptor was performed in the laboratory of Pei-Yong Shi at the University of Texas, Medical Branch [14] on behalf of Aligos Therapeutics, Inc.
    A549
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Organisms/Strains
    SentencesResources
    SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro and human cathepsin L biochemical assays: The SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro and human cathepsin L assays were performed as previously described [12].
    SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No funding statement was detected.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.