In Vitro Antiviral Activity of Doxycycline Against SARS-CoV-2

Overview

Journal Molecules

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Nov 4

PMID 33142770

Citations 42

Authors

Mathieu Gendrot

Julien Andreani

Priscilla Jardot

Sebastien Hutter

Oceane Delandre

Manon Boxberger

Joel Mosnier

Marion Le Bideau

Isabelle Duflot

Isabelle Fonta

Clara Rolland

Herve Bogreau

Bernard La Scola

Bruno Pradines

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In December 2019, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), emerged in Wuhan, China. Despite containment measures, SARS-CoV-2 spread in Asia, Southern Europe, then in America and currently in Africa. Identifying effective antiviral drugs is urgently needed. An efficient approach to drug discovery is to evaluate whether existing approved drugs can be efficient against SARS-CoV-2. Doxycycline, which is a second-generation tetracycline with broad-spectrum antimicrobial, antimalarial and anti-inflammatory activities, showed in vitro activity on Vero E6 cells infected with a clinically isolated SARS-CoV-2 strain (IHUMI-3) with median effective concentration (EC) of 4.5 ± 2.9 µM, compatible with oral uptake and intravenous administrations. Doxycycline interacted both on SARS-CoV-2 entry and in replication after virus entry. Besides its in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, doxycycline has anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing the expression of various pro-inflammatory cytokines and could prevent co-infections and superinfections due to broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Therefore, doxycycline could be a potential partner of COVID-19 therapies. However, these results must be taken with caution regarding the potential use in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients: it is difficult to translate in vitro study results to actual clinical treatment in patients. In vivo evaluation in animal experimental models is required to confirm the antiviral effects of doxycycline on SARS-CoV-2 and more trials of high-risk patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 infections must be initiated.

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