A group from University of Crete, Greece, has reported that p-cymene could be an antiviral drug for SARS-CoV-2.
https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/prp2.798
Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero cells with variable concentrations of p-cymene resulted in a significant decrease of plaque formation and viral titer in the culture supernatants (up to 90%, verified by Q-PCR), at concentrations ranging from 0.0125 to 200 μg/ml, after 2 days of incubation. Up to 95% reduced titer was also observed during pre-treatment of Vero cells, by Q-PCR, prior to infection with SARS-CoV-2. The IC50 during co-treatment was 74.5 μg/ml, while pre-treatment IC50 was reduced to 57 μg/ml. Importantly, p-cymene at concentrations <100 μg/ml does not impair cell viability.
Molecular dynamics simulations of SARS-CoV-2 N protein complex with Importin A, in the absence or the presence of p-cymene, revealed that p-cymene is able to destabilize the nucleocapsid–importin complex, resulting in inhibition of its nuclear translocation.
