PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Rothan, Hussin A.
AU  - Stone, Shannon
AU  - Natekar, Janhavi
AU  - Kumari, Pratima
AU  - Arora, Komal
AU  - Kumar, Mukesh
TI  - The FDA- approved gold drug Auranofin inhibits novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) replication and attenuates inflammation in human cells
AID  - 10.1101/2020.04.14.041228
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.04.14.041228
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/04/15/2020.04.14.041228.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/04/15/2020.04.14.041228.full
AB  - SARS-COV-2 has recently emerged as a new public health threat. Herein, we report that the FDA-approved gold drug, auranofin, inhibits SARS-COV-2 replication in human cells at low micro molar concentration. Treatment of cells with auranofin resulted in a 95% reduction in the viral RNA at 48 hours after infection. Auranofin treatment dramatically reduced the expression of SARS-COV-2-induced cytokines in human cells. These data indicate that auranofin could be a useful drug to limit SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated lung injury due to its anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-ROS properties. Auranofin has a well-known toxicity profile and is considered safe for human use.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.