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Structural basis for the inhibition of the papain-like protease of SARS-CoV-2 by small molecules

Fu, Z.; Huang, B.; Tang, J.; Liu, S.; Liu, M.; Ye, Y.; Liu, Z.; Xiong, Y.; Cao, D.; Li, J.; Niu, X.; Zhou, H.; Zhao, Y. J.; Zhang, G.; Huang, H.

2020-07-18 biochemistry
10.1101/2020.07.17.208959 bioRxiv
Show abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is the pathogen responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 papain-like cysteine protease has been implicated in virus maturation, dysregulation of host inflammation and antiviral immune responses. We showed that PLpro preferably cleaves the K48-ubiquitin linkage while also being capable of cleaving ISG15 modification. The multiple functions of PLpro render it a promising drug target. Therefore, we screened an FDA-approved drug library and also examined available inhibitors against PLpro. Inhibitor GRL0617 showed a promising IC50 of 2.1 M. The co-crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro-C111S in complex with GRL0617 suggests that GRL0617 is a non-covalent inhibitor. NMR data indicate that GRL0617 blocks the binding of ISG15 to PLpro. The antiviral activity of GRL0617 reveal that PLpro is a promising drug target for therapeutically treating COVID-19. One Sentence SummaryCo-crystal structure of PLpro in complex with GRL0617 reveals the druggability of PLpro for SARS-CoV-2 treatment.

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