It is well known that when the new coronavirus (COVID-19) becomes severe, it causes acute respiratory prompt syndrome and multiple organ failure, resulting in cytokine storms.
To mitigate lung inflammation, the use of inhibitors against certain cytokines, such as IL-6 and GM-CSF, is limited. This is because there are many signaling molecules and pathways are involved in the triggering of cytokine storms.
Therefore, the following group focused on inhibitors of DNA Topoisomerase-1 in order to inhibit the transcription process of genes induced by viral infection “in one go”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33299999/
Topoisomerase-1 is a necessary enzyme to unwind DNA double helix.
In vivo experiments using hamsters, it was shown that genes expressed high by viral infection were down regulated by the Topoisomerase-1 inhibitor, and thereby SARS-CoV-2-induced lung
inflammation was suppressed.