Sci Rep . Sofosbuvir as a Potential Alternative to Treat the SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic

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Sci Rep


. 2020 Jun 9;10(1):9294.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-66440-9.
Sofosbuvir as a Potential Alternative to Treat the SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic


Rodrigo J?come ¹ , Jos? Alberto Campillo-Balderas ¹ , Samuel Ponce de Le?n ² , Arturo Becerra ¹ , Antonio Lazcano ^{3 4}



Affiliations

• PMID: 32518317
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66440-9

Free article

Abstract

As of today, there is no antiviral for the treatment of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the development of a vaccine might take several months or even years. The structural superposition of the hepatitis C virus polymerase bound to sofosbuvir, a nucleoside analog antiviral approved for hepatitis C virus infections, with the SARS-CoV polymerase shows that the residues that bind to the drug are present in the latter. Moreover, a multiple alignment of several SARS-CoV-2, SARS and MERS-related coronaviruses polymerases shows that these residues are conserved in all these viruses, opening the possibility to use sofosbuvir against these highly infectious pathogens.