5-Aminolevulinic acid antiviral efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant in vitro.

Ngwe Tun, Mya Myat; Sakura, Takaya; Sakurai, Yasuteru; Kurosaki, Yohei; Inaoka, Daniel Ken; Shioda, Norifumi; Smith, Chris; Yasuda, Jiro; Morita, Kouichi; Kita, Kiyoshi; (2022) 5-Aminolevulinic acid antiviral efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant in vitro. Tropical medicine and health, 50 (1). 30-. ISSN 1348-8945 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-022-00422-7

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic continues to pose a threat to global health. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) has spread rapidly worldwide and became dominant in many countries. A natural 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) with sodium ferrous citrate (SFC) has demonstrated antiviral activity in Wuhan, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2 infections in vitro. In this study, we report antiviral activity of 5-ALA, 5-ALA with SFC led to IC50 of 329 and 765/191, respectively after infection with Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. Our finding suggests that 5-ALA could be used as antiviral drug candidate to treat Omicron variant infected patients.