ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2022
Berbamine hydrochloride potently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection by blocking S protein-mediated membrane fusion.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Berbamine hydrochloride as a brain-penetrant galectin-3 inhibitor in a model of Huntington's disease.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Disruption of Spike Priming in Virus Entry: Tetrandrine as a Pan-Coronavirus Inhibitor.MedComm · 2025Article
- Green Synthesis of Tetrahydropyrazino[2,1-a:5,4-a']diisoquinolines as SARS-CoV-2 Entry Inhibitors.ACS omega · 2025Article
- Pharmacological and Therapeutic Potential of Berbamine: A Potent Alkaloid fromCurrent topics in medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Berbamine prevents SARS-CoV-2 entry and transmission.iScience · 2024Article
- The Evaluation of Drugs as Potential Modulators of the Trafficking and Maturation of ACE2, the SARS-CoV-2 Receptor.Biomolecules · 2024Article
- Identification of fangchinoline as a broad-spectrum enterovirus inhibitor through reporter virus based high-content screening.Virologica Sinica · 2024Article
- Berbamine suppresses intestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection via a BNIP3-dependent autophagy blockade.Emerging microbes & infections · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Syncytium under the Radar: Molecular Insights of the Spike-Induced Syncytia and Potential Strategies to Limit SARS-CoV-2 Replication.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Oridonin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication by targeting viral proteinase and polymerase.Virologica Sinica · 2023Article
- Current status and future challenges in extraction, purification and identification of Cepharanthine (a potential drug against COVID-19).Separation and purification technology · 2023Review
- Targeting RNA G-quadruplex with repurposed drugs blocks SARS-CoV-2 entry.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Berbamine Hydrochloride Inhibits African Swine Fever Virus Infection In Vitro.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Neuromasts and Olfactory Organs of Zebrafish Larvae Represent Possible Sites of SARS-CoV-2 Pseudovirus Host Cell Entry.Journal of virology · 2022Article
- Identification of a group of bisbenzylisoquinoline (BBIQ) compounds as ferroptosis inhibitors.Cell death & disease · 2022Article
- Identification of potential COVID-19 treatment compounds which inhibit SARS Cov2 prototypic, Delta and Omicron variant infection.Virology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 has posed a significant threat to global public health since its outbreak in late 2019. Although there are a few drugs approved for clinical treatment to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection currently, the severity of the ongoing global pandemic still urges the efforts to discover new antiviral compounds. As the viral spike (S) protein plays a key role in mediating virus entry, it becomes a potential target for the design of antiviral drugs against COVID-19. Here, we tested the antiviral activity of berbamine hydrochloride, a bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, against SARS-CoV-2 infection. We found that berbamine hydrochloride could efficiently inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection in different cell lines. Further experiments showed berbamine hydrochloride inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection by targeting the viral entry into host cells. Moreover, berbamine hydrochloride and other bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloids could potently inhibit S-mediated cell-cell fusion. Furthermore, molecular docking results implied that the berbamine hydrochloride could bind to the post fusion core of SARS-CoV-2 S2 subunit. Therefore, berbamine hydrochloride may represent a potential efficient antiviral agent against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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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.