Antiviral activity of 5-aminolevulinic acid against variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

• Published in: Tropical Medicine and Health
• Main Authors: Mya Myat Ngwe Tun, Takaya Sakura, Yasuteru Sakurai, Yohei Kurosaki, Daniel Ken Inaoka, Norifumi Shioda, Jiro Yasuda, Kiyoshi Kita, Kouichi Morita
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2022
• Subjects: SARS-CoV-2 variants; 5-ALA; SFC; Anti-viral drug; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-021-00397-x; https://doaj.org/article/99bc2d36cb9e487397801fa7078150e5

Abstract Background Genetic variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began to emerge in 2020 and have been spreading globally during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Despite the presence of different COVID-19 vaccines, the discovery of effective antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 are still urgently needed. A natural amino acid, 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA), has exhibited both antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities. In a previous study, we demonstrated an in vitro antiviral effect of 5-ALA against SARS-CoV-2 infection without significant cytotoxicity. In the present study, we sought to investigate whether 5-ALA with or without sodium ferrous citrate (SFC) can inhibit in vitro both the original SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan strain and its variants, including the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta strains. Methods The antiviral activity of ALA with or without SFC was determined in Vero-E6 cell. The virus inhibition was quantified by real time RT-PCR. Results Co-administration of 5-ALA and SFC inhibited the Wuhan, Alpha and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2 with IC50 values of 235, 173 and 397 µM, respectively, and the Beta and Gamma variants with IC50 values of 1311 and 1516 µM. Conclusion Our study suggests that 5-ALA with SFC warrants accelerated clinical evaluation as an antiviral drug candidate for treating patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 variants.