image: Dipyridamole bound to the SARS-CoV-2 protease Mpro after identified via the virtual screening and bioassay validation, and thus suppressed viral replication in vitro. As a result, dipyridamole supplementation was associated with significantly decreased concentrations of D-dimers, increased lymphocyte and platelet recovery in the circulation, and markedly improved clinical outcomes in comparison to the control patients. view more
Credit: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B publishes special issue on 'Research on Emerging COVID-19 (Target, Mechanism, and Therapeutics)' edited by Hai-Bin Luo, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China; Shilin Chen, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing, China and Peiqing Liu, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome, hypercoagulability, hypertension, and multiorgan dysfunction. In recent months, due to its high infectivity and pathogenicity, SARS-CoV-2 has gradually spread to more than 200 countries and regions, resulting in more than 500,000 deaths globally. There is an urgent need for effective prevention and treatment (drugs and vaccines) against this highly pathogenic coronavirus. This special issue includes original five research articles, three review articles, and two letters to the editor covering topics around the identification of readily available drugs or natural products as a rapid way to provide clinical treatment in COVID-19 therapy.
Featured papers in this issue are:
Potential therapeutic effects of dipyridamole in the severely ill patients with COVID-19 by authors Xiaoyan Liu, Zhe Li, Shuai Liu, Jing Sun and Hai-Bin Luo (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.04.008). Effective antivirals with safe clinical profile are urgently needed to improve the overall prognosis. In an analysis of a randomly collected cohort of 124 patients with COVID-19, the authors found that hypercoagulability as indicated by elevated concentrations of D-dimers was associated with disease severity. By virtual screening of a U.S. FDA approved drug library, the authors identified an anticoagulation agent dipyridamole (DIP) in silico, which suppressed SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro.
Crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein RNA binding domain reveals potential unique drug targeting sites by authors Sisi Kang, Mei Yang, Zhongsi Hong, Liping Zhang and Shoudeng Chen (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.04.009). The structural information of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein remains unclear. The authors have determined the 2.7 Å crystal structure of the N-terminal RNA binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein and revealed potential unique drug targeting sites, which can help guide the design of novel antiviral agents targeting SARS-CoV-2.
D3Targets-2019-nCoV: a webserver for predicting drug targets and for multi-target and multi-site based virtual screening against COVID-19 by authors Yulong Shi, Xinben Zhang, Kaijie Mu, Cheng Peng and Weiliang Zhu (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.04.006). The authors have developed a molecular docking-based web server D3Targets-2019-nCoV to accelerate drug discovery against COVID-19. The server has two functions; one, to predict targets for active compounds, and two, to identify potent compounds via virtual screening. The webserver is useful to medical chemists, pharmacologists and clinicians for efficiently discovering or developing effective drugs against SARS-CoV-2.
Other articles published in the issue include:
Review articles
Combating COVID-19 with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine in China Liqiang Ni, Lili Chen, Xia Huang, Chouping Han, Hongzhuan Chen https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.06.009
Bioactive natural compounds against human coronaviruses: a review and perspective Yanfang Xian, Juan Zhang, Zhaoxiang Bian, Hua Zhou, Hongxi Xu https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.06.002
Highly pathogenic coronaviruses: thrusting vaccine development in the spotlight Chunting He, Ming Qin, Xun Sun https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.05.009
Original articles
Analysis on herbal medicines utilized for treatment of COVID-19
Lu Luo, Jingwen Jiang, Cheng Wang, Martin Fitzgerald, Shilin Chen
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.05.007
Dose selection of chloroquine phosphate for treatment of COVID-19 based on a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model
Cheng Cui, Miao Zhang, Xueting Yao, Siqi Tu, Dongyang Liu
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.04.007
Letters to the Editor
Comment on GLP-1-based drugs and COVID-19 treatment
Tianru Jin, Mingyao Liu
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.05.006
Anti-RAS drugs and SARS-CoV-2 infection
Jingwei Bian, Rongsheng Zhao, Suodi Zhai, Zijian Li
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2020.04.013
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Prevention; Treatment
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The Journal of the Institute of Materia Medica, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (APSB) is a bimonthly journal, in English, which publishes significant original research articles, rapid communications and high quality reviews of recent advances in all areas of pharmaceutical sciences -- including pharmacology, pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry, natural products, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutical analysis and pharmacokinetics. For more information please visit https://www.journals.elsevier.com/acta-pharmaceutica-sinica-b/
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CiteScore: 10.5
Impact Factor: 7.097
5-Year Impact Factor: 7.865
Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): 2.210
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 1.792
ISSN 2211-3835
Journal
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B