TY - JOUR T1 - Allicin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication and abrogates the antiviral host response in the Calu-3 proteome JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.05.15.444275 SP - 2021.05.15.444275 AU - Kirstin Mösbauer AU - Verena Nadin Fritsch AU - Lorenz Adrian AU - Jörg Bernhardt AU - Martin Clemens Horst Gruhlke AU - Alan John Slusarenko AU - Daniela Niemeyer AU - Haike Antelmann Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/05/16/2021.05.15.444275.abstract N2 - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is a major health burden. Volatile garlic organosulfur compounds, such as the thiol-reactive allicin (diallyl thiosulfinate) exert strong antimicrobial activity against various respiratory pathogens. Here, we investigated the antiviral activity of allicin against SARS-CoV-2 in infected Vero E6 and Calu-3 lung cells. Allicin efficiently inhibited viral replication and infectivity in both cell lines. Proteome analyses of infected Calu-3 cells revealed a strong induction of the antiviral interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) signature (e.g. cGAS, Mx1, IFIT, IFIH, IFI16, IFI44, 2’5’OAS and ISG15), pathways of vesicular transport, tight junctions (KIF5A/B/C, OSBPL2, CLTC1, ARHGAP17) and ubiquitin modification (UBE2L3/5), as well as reprogramming of host metabolism, transcription and translation. Allicin abrogated the ISG host response and reverted the host cellular pathways to levels of uninfected Calu-3 cells, confirming the antiviral and immunomodulatory activity of allicin in the host proteome. Thus, biocompatible doses of garlic could be promising for protection of lung cells against SARS-CoV-2.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -