† These authors contributed equally.
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, caused by the severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has infected more than 210
million individuals globally and resulted in over 4 million deaths since the
first report in December 2019. The early use of traditional Chinese medicine
(TCM) for light and ordinary patients, can rapidly improve symptoms, shorten
hospitalization days and reduce severe cases transformed from light and normal.
Many TCM formulas and products have a wide application in treating infectious and
non-infectious diseases. Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb. et Zucc. (P.
cuspidatum), is an important Traditional Chinese Medicine with actions of
clearing away heat and eliminating dampness, draining the gallbladder to relieve
jaundice, removing blood stasis to alleviate pain, resolving phlegm and arrest
cough. In the search for anti-SARS-CoV-2, P. cuspidatum was recommended
as as a therapeutic drug of COVID-19 pneumonia.In this study, we aimed to
identifies P. cuspidatum is the potential broad-spectrum inhibitor for
the treatment of coronaviruses infections. Methods: In the present study
, we infected human malignant embryonal rhabdomyoma (RD) cells with the OC43
strain of the coronavirus, which represent an alternative model for SARS-CoV-2
and then employed the cell viability assay kit for the antiviral activity. We
combined computer aided virtual screening to predicte the binding site and
employed Surface plasmon resonance analysis (SPR) to comfirm the interaction
between drugs and coronavirus.
We employed fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology to identify drug’s
inhibition in the proteolytic activity of 3CLpro and Plpro. Results:
Based on our results, polydatin and resveratrol derived from P.
cuspidatum significantly suppressed HCoV-OC43 replication. 50% inhibitory
concentration (IC
