Synthesis and Cell-Based Evaluation of Umifenovir Analogues as Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Agents

Umifenovir is a broad-spectrum antiviral agent used to treat influenza in China and Russia, and it has been studied as an antiviral agent for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We have previously reported the synthesis of novel umifenovir analogues and their biological evaluation with a focus on their inhibitory activity against the binding of the spike glycoprotein (S-protein) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor; however, no strong inhibitory activity was observed from these analogues. In the present study, an additional set of umifenovir analogues was synthesized with replacement of the substituents at the 2-, 3-, and 4-positions of the indole, and a cell-based assay using SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.1) was performed to examine the antiviral activity of the analogues. We found that one of the newly synthesized umifenovir analogues exhibited antiviral activity and reduced the viral load to 0.06 % as compared to the control when it was assessed in the presence of nafamostat and marimastat, which inhibit cell-surface viral entry. In contrast, when this analogue was evaluated without the addition of nafamostat or marimastat, it exhibited less antiviral activity, suggesting that the umifenovir analogue would exert antiviral activity mainly by inhibiting endosome-mediated viral entry.