A group from Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada has reported that green tea catechin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), could be a pan-coronavirus attachment inhibitor.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-17088-0
Here, it was evaluated and characterized the inhibitory activity of EGCG against entry of human seasonal and highly pathogenic coronavirus (CoVs). Then, it was demonstrated that EGCG inhibits entry of a broad range of CoVs into physiologically relevant human lung epithelial cells. And, furthermore, EGCG inhibited binding of multiple human CoVs to cell surfaces, suggesting that this natural product inhibits a highly conserved step in CoV attachment, such as primary attachment to cell-surface heparan sulfate.
Focusing on SARS-CoV-2, it was shown that EGCG competitively inhibits virion attachment to heparin, a structural analog of Heparan Sulfate. These findings further support understanding of the antiviral mechanisms of EGCG against CoVs, and identify a highly conserved antiviral target for the development of improved antiviral molecules to prevent infection with diverse CoVs, including potential future emerging CoVs.
