Abstract

At present, coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variant virus are prevalent all over the world, taking a major toll on human lives worldwide. Oral mucosa and saliva are the high-risk routes of transmission. Inactivation of the virus in the mouth is one of the important strategies to reduce the source infectivity of the virus. However, the current preparations for inactivating oral virus are mainly aimed at Angiotensin Converting Enzyme2 (ACE2) protein, and its effect needs to be improved. In this study, through literature mining, multi-target screening and other methods, we screened and optimized the volatile oil formula (Artemisiae argyi folium, Chrysanthemum morifolium, Trollii chinensis flos, Lonicerae japonica flos) from the volatile oil of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to inhibit the invasion and replication of SARS-CoV-2. A test using pseudotype virus with S glycoprotein confirmed that this formula could effectively bind to the S glycoprotein to prevent SARS-CoV-2 host cell entry. Molecular docking experiments showed that the multiple molecules in the formula might weakly bind to these targets including ACE2, cathepsin L, furin, M^pro or 3cl. In all, the volatile oil formula designed here offers a general affordable strategy to protect patients from SARS-CoV-2 infections through debulking or minimizing transmission to others.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; Formula; Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM); Multiple targets; Volatile oil