Calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, is a promising candidate for COVID-19 prophylaxis
Chee Keng Mok, Yan Ling Ng, Bintou Ahmadou Ahidjo, Regina Ching Hua Lee, Marcus Wing Choy Loe, Jing Liu, Kai Sen Tan, Parveen Kaur, Wee Joo Chng, John Eu-Li Wong, De Yun Wang, Erwei Hao, Xiaotao Hou, Yong Wah Tan, Tze Minn Mak, Cui Lin, Raymond Lin, Paul Tambyah, Jiagang Deng, Justin Jang Hann Chu
doi:10.1101/2020.06.21.162396
, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (1), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020 (2). While awaiting a vaccine, several antivirals are being used to manage the disease with limited success (3, 4). To expand this arsenal, we screened 4 compound libraries: a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug library, an angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) targeted compound library, a flavonoid compound library as well as a natural product library. Of the 121 compounds identified with activity against SARS-CoV-2, 7 were shortlisted for validation. We show for the first time that the active form of Vitamin D, calcitriol, exhibits significant potent activity against SARS-CoV-2. This finding paves the way for consideration of host-directed therapies for ring prophylaxis of contacts of SARS-CoV-2 patients.
Author contributions Conceived and designed the experiments: CKM, JJHC. Performed the experiments: CKM, YLN, BAA, RCHL. Analyzed the data: CKM, YLN, BAA, RCHL, MWCL, PK, PT, WJC, JEW, JJHC. Contributed reagents/materials: JL, KST, DYW, EH, XH JD, TMM, CL, RL. Wrote the paper: BAA, MWCL, YLN, RCHL, PK, CKM, YWT, JJHC. All the authors read the manuscript and approved it before submission
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