A group from Department of Molecular Neuroimmune Signalling, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, has reported that Snake venom (Dimeric PLA2) from Vipera nikolskii showed high antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34714362/
Two types of Snake venom (Dimeric PLA2) from Vipera nikolskii (HDP-1, HDP-2, and its subunits, HDP-2I and HDP-2P) were evaluated as natural antiviral products.
Complete suppression of the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 was observed when the viral stock was treated with HDP-2P even at 0.1 µg/ml on Vero E6 cells.
On the other hand, the highest but moderate cytotoxicity was manifested by HDP-2P which at 100 μg/ml reduced cell viability on average by 51%.
These data highlight the potential of PLA2s as a natural product that could prove to be fruitful as the starting point for the development of antiviral drugs.