Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt, in cooperation with the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, have probably discovered another, previously unknown mechanism of action of the antiviral remdesivir. Using structural analyses, they have discovered that a decomposition product of the virostatic agent remdesivir binds to the viral protein nsP3 of Sars-CoV-2. This protein helps the virus suppress host cell defence mechanisms. The discovery may be important for the development of new drugs to combat Sars-CoV-2 and other RNA viruses.
The virostatic agent remdesivir disrupts an important step in the propagation of RNA viruses, to which Sars-CoV-2 also belongs: the reproduction of the virus’s own genetic material. This provides the blueprint for the production of new virus particles by the host cell and is present as RNA matrices. To accelerate their reproduction, however, RNA viruses cause the RNA matrices to be copied. To do so, they use a specific protein of their own (an RNA polymerase), which is blocked by remdesivir. Strictly speaking, remdesivir does not do this itself, but rather a substance that is synthesized from remdesivir in five steps when the active agent penetrates a cell.
In the second of these five steps, an intermediate is formed from remdesivir, a substance with the somewhat unwieldy name GS-441524 (in scientific terms: a remdesivir metabolite). GS-441524 is a virostatic agent as well. As the scientists in the group headed by Stefan Knapp from the Institute for Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Goethe University Frankfurt have discovered, GS-441524 targets a Sars-CoV-2 protein called nsP3.
Read more on the PSI website
Image: May Sharpe of PSI’s Macromolecules and Bioimaging Laboratory
Credit: Paul Scherrer Institute/Markus Fischer