ジャーナル: ACS Cent Sci / 年: 2023 タイトル: In Silico Discovery of Small Molecule Modulators Targeting the Achilles' Heel of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein. 著者: Qing Wang / Fanhao Meng / Yuting Xie / Wei Wang / Yumin Meng / Linjie Li / Tao Liu / Jianxun Qi / Xiaodan Ni / Sanduo Zheng / Jianhui Huang / Niu Huang / 要旨: 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 ...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.