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Researchers Turn to Systems Pharmacology Approach to Suggest Potential Drug Combinations to Tackle the Novel Coronavirus
With the mounting number of COVID-19 cases, drug repurposing is the approach currently being used by various pharmaceutical companies and research groups to identify an effective treatment for the disease.
Adding to the drug repurposing efforts, a team of Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified combinations of previously known drugs that may be effective against the novel coronavirus.
The team implemented a systems pharmacology-based network medicine platform, quantifying the interplay between the Human Coronavirus (HCoV)–host interactome and drug targets in the human protein–protein interaction network. The idea behind this approach is the protein targeted by some drugs might also work as antivirals because of common protein–protein interactions and “functional pathways” that occur when viruses interact with their hosts.
Using network proximity analyses of drug targets and HCoV–host interactions in the human interactome they were able to identify three potential combinations of existing drugs: melatonin plus chemotherapy drug mercaptopurine; sirolimus, most commonly used to prevent organ-transplant rejection, combined with another chemotherapy drug, dactinomycin; and breast cancer drug toremifene plus emodin, a chemical found in plants like rhubarb, that may be able to target cellular factors that allow the viruses to replicate.
However, the researchers caution that study limited as it does not predict the potential side effects or interactions of these drug combinations. Therefore, preclinical validation would have to be conducted before testing the combinations in clinical studies.