Pyrimidine biosynthesis inhibitors synergize with nucleoside analogs to block SARS-CoV-2 infection

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Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the dearth of approved drugs to treat viral infections, with only ∼90 FDA approved drugs against human viral pathogens. To identify drugs that can block SARS-CoV-2 replication, extensive drug screening to repurpose approved drugs is underway. Here, we screened ∼18,000 drugs for antiviral activity using live virus infection in human respiratory cells. Dose-response studies validate 122 drugs with antiviral activity and selectivity against SARS-CoV-2. Amongst these drug candidates are 16 nucleoside analogs, the largest category of clinically used antivirals. This included the antiviral Remdesivir approved for use in COVID-19, and the nucleoside Molnupirivir, which is undergoing clinical trials. RNA viruses rely on a high supply of nucleoside triphosphates from the host to efficiently replicate, and we identified a panel of host nucleoside biosynthesis inhibitors as antiviral, and we found that combining pyrimidine biosynthesis inhibitors with antiviral nucleoside analogs synergistically inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro and in vivo suggesting a clinical path forward.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2021.06.24.449811: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.


    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: Please consider improving the rainbow (“jet”) colormap(s) used on pages 9 and 11. At least one figure is not accessible to readers with colorblindness and/or is not true to the data, i.e. not perceptually uniform.


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

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.


    About SciScore

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