The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world and remains a major public health threat. Vaccine inefficiency, vaccination breakthroughs and lack of supply, especially in developing countries, as well as the fact that a non-negligible part of the population either refuse vaccination or cannot be vaccinated due to age, pre-existing illness or non-response to existing vaccines intensify this issue. This might also contribute to the emergence of new variants, being more efficiently transmitted, more virulent and more capable of escaping naturally acquired and vaccine-induced immunity. Hence, the need of effective and viable prevention options to reduce viral transmission is of outmost importance. In this study, we investigated the antiviral effect of iota-, lambda- and kappa-carrageenan, sulfated polysaccharides extracted from red seaweed, on SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan type and the spreading variants of concern (VOCs) Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. Carrageenans as part of broadly used nasal and mouth sprays as well as lozenges have the potential of first line defense to inhibit the infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we demonstrate by using a SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudotyped lentivirus particles (SSPL) system and patient-isolated SARS-CoV-2 VOCs to infect transgenic A549ACE2/TMPRSS2 and Calu-3 human lung cells that all three carrageenan types exert antiviral activity. Iota-carrageenan exhibits antiviral activity with comparable IC 50 values against the SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan type and the VOCs. Altogether, these results indicate that iota-carrageenan might be effective for prophylaxis and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections independent of the present and potentially future variants.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, variants of concern, pseudotyping, iota-carrageenan, kappa-carrageenan, lambda-carrageenan, sulfated polymer, virus variants, carrageenan types, TMPRSS2, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, Vaccine, vaccination, VoC, SARS-COV-2 infection, COVID-19 pandemic, Infection, Delta, nasal, antiviral activity, variants, Particle, Antiviral effect, Prophylaxis, Spread, Viral, lentivirus, Wuhan, VOCs, carrageenan, sulfated polysaccharides, Gamma, Alpha, Beta, age, Viral transmission, iota-carrageenan, kappa-carrageenan, SARS-CoV-2 infections, Calu-3, Lambda, SARS-CoV-2 spike, Iota, Vaccine-induced immunity, independent of, can not, Carrageenans, supply, Calu, human lung cells, Defense, virulent, transmission of SARS-CoV-2, pseudotyped, public health threat, infect, transgenic, effective, independent, lack, transmitted, investigated, inhibit, contribute, comparable, reduce, exhibit, human lung cell, SSPL, sulfated polysaccharide, the SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 Delta, Gamma, concern,