Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

April 8, 2021

TMPRSS2 and RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase Are Effective Targets of Therapeutic Intervention for Treatment of COVID-19 Caused by SARS-CoV-2 Variants (B.1.1.7 and B.1.351)

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  • [Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infection designed to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) and RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp), proteins that play a role in cell entry, were shown to suppress in vitro viral replication of both variants of concern B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 with similar effectiveness as compared to the parent SARS-CoV-2 strain. Drug candidates tested included four TMPRS22 inhibitors (camostat, nafamostat, aprotinin, and bromhexine) and two RdRp inhibitors (remdesivir and molnupiravir). The authors note that the lack of substantial differences in drug efficacy among the three lineages suggests the potential targets of these drugs lie outside the mutations present in the two variants.

Lee et al. (Apr 8, 2021). TMPRSS2 and RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase Are Effective Targets of Therapeutic Intervention for Treatment of COVID-19 Caused by SARS-CoV-2 Variants (B.1.1.7 and B.1.351). Pre-print downloaded Apr 8 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.06.438540