Download MendeleyIn Silico Discovery of Small Molecule Modulators Targeting the Achilles' Heel of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein.
Wang, Q., Meng, F., Xie, Y., Wang, W., Meng, Y., Li, L., Liu, T., Qi, J., Ni, X., Zheng, S., Huang, J., Huang, N.(2023) ACS Cent Sci 9: 252-265
- PubMed: 36844485
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.2c01190
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
8H3D, 8H3E - PubMed Abstract:
The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 has been a promising target for developing vaccines and therapeutics due to its crucial role in the viral entry process. Previously reported cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures have revealed that free fatty acids (FFA) bind with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, stabilizing its closed conformation and reducing its interaction with the host cell target in vitro. Inspired by these, we utilized a structure-based virtual screening approach against the conserved FFA-binding pocket to identify small molecule modulators of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which helped us identify six hits with micromolar binding affinities. Further evaluation of their commercially available and synthesized analogs enabled us to discover a series of compounds with better binding affinities and solubilities. Notably, our identified compounds exhibited similar binding affinities against the spike proteins of the prototypic SARS-CoV-2 and a currently circulating Omicron BA.4 variant. Furthermore, the cryo-EM structure of the compound SPC-14 bound spike revealed that SPC-14 could shift the conformational equilibrium of the spike protein toward the closed conformation, which is human ACE2 (hACE2) inaccessible. Our identified small molecule modulators targeting the conserved FFA-binding pocket could serve as the starting point for the future development of broad-spectrum COVID-19 intervention treatments.
Organizational Affiliation:
School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
