ArticleNature structural & molecular biology2021
Structural basis for inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase by suramin.
Article in Nature structural & molecular biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 180 citations in OpenAlex.
- Phase I, Single-Dose Study to Assess the Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Suramin in Healthy Chinese Volunteers.Drug design, development and therapy · 2023Trial
- Drug Repurposing as a Broad-Spectrum Strategy Against Coronaviruses: Frontiers in Mechanisms and Clinical Translation.Viruses · 2026Review
- The nucleoside analog CMX521 inhibits coronavirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase via a two-pronged mechanism.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Positive-Strand RNA Viral RdRps: From Structure Conservation and Activity Assay to Drug Development.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Non-Structural Proteins: A Blueprint for Next-Generation Small-Molecule Coronavirus Antivirals.Pharmaceutics · 2026Review
- Discovery and mutasynthetic optimization of ansatrienin B: A new broad-spectrum inhibitor against RNA viruses.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Article
- Structure of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus RNA polymerase.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- HuR enhances SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein translation through the genomic 5'-UTR, by promoting polypyrimidine tract-binding protein binding.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Structural basis for RNA synthesis and inhibition of the orthobunyavirus polymerase.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Small Molecule Inhibition of Mononegavirales RNA Polymerases.Journal of medical virology · 2026Review
- Suramin Interactions Across Biological Systems: From Molecular Targets to Therapeutic Implications.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Fusion Strategy of DNA-Encoded Libraries Drives Discovery of Allosteric Inhibitors of SARS-CoV‑2 RdRp.JACS Au · 2026Article
- Ephedrae Herba as a potential source of SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitory activity.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- RNA Binding Sensitivity of Nonstructural Protein 8 Revealed by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering and Alphafold2 Prediction.ACS nano · 2025Article
- Structural basis for suramin binding to the C-terminal domain of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein.Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica · 2025Article
- Mechanistic insights into the activity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase inhibitors using single-molecule FRET.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- A Knowledge-Guided Graph Learning Approach Bridging Phenotype- and Target-Based Drug Discovery.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Structural insights into the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complexes from highly pathogenic Marburg and Ebola viruses.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Pamoic acid and carbenoxolone specifically inhibit CRISPR/Cas9 in bacteria, mammalian cells, and mice in a DNA topology-specific manner.Genome biology · 2025Article
- RedefiningMolecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2025Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by nonstop infections of SARS-CoV-2 has continued to ravage many countries worldwide. Here we report that suramin, a 100-year-old drug, is a potent inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and acts by blocking the binding of RNA to the enzyme. In biochemical assays, suramin and its derivatives are at least 20-fold more potent than remdesivir, the currently approved nucleotide drug for treatment of COVID-19. The 2.6 Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of the viral RdRp bound to suramin reveals two binding sites. One site directly blocks the binding of the RNA template strand and the other site clashes with the RNA primer strand near the RdRp catalytic site, thus inhibiting RdRp activity. Suramin blocks viral replication in Vero E6 cells, although the reasons underlying this effect are likely various. Our results provide a structural mechanism for a nonnucleotide inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 RdRp.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.