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Many host proteins play a role in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) life cycle, and some are necessary for viral replication and translation. There are efforts to find drugs that target viral proteins, but a complementary approach is to target these required host proteins. White et al. explored the antiviral activity of plitidepsin, a cyclic depsipeptide drug, which targets the host cell’s translational machinery (see the perspective of Wong and Damania). The authors show that in cells, the drug is significantly more potent than remdesivir against SARS-CoV-2, with limited cellular toxicity. Prophylactic treatment protected the mice from infection with SARS-CoV-2, so further study of plitidepsin as a therapy is warranted.
Science, this issue p. 926; see also p. 884
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