Olive-Derived Triterpenes Suppress SARS COV-2 Main Protease: A Promising Scaffold for Future Therapeutics.

ABSTRACT: SARS CoV-2 pandemic is still considered a global health disaster, and newly emerged variants keep growing. A number of promising vaccines have been recently developed as a protective measure; however, cost-effective treatments are also of great importance to support this critical situation. Previously, betulinic acid has shown promising antiviral activity against SARS CoV via targeting its main protease. Herein, we investigated the inhibitory potential of this compound together with three other triterpene congeners (i.e., ursolic acid, maslinic acid, and betulin) derived from olive leaves against the viral main protease (M^pro) of the currently widespread SARS CoV-2. Interestingly, betulinic, ursolic, and maslinic acids showed significant inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 3.

SUBMITTER: Alhadrami HA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8125615 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature