(Supplementary Files) Assessing Antiviral Mechanisms of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, N-acetylcysteine and Acetylsalicylic acid on SARS-CoV-2

Objective: The potential antiviral activity of FDA-approved 3 compounds (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine; GlcNAc, N-acetylcysteine; NAC, and Acetylsalicylic acid; ASA) against SARS-CoV-2 was investigated.

Materials and Methods: Molecular docking analysis of these compounds as ligands with the main 22 viral proteins was made to predict their possible interaction.

Results: All molecules showed interactions with the viral proteins; the mean binding scores for GlcNAc and ASA were very close (-6.81 kcal/mol and -6.31 kcal/mol, respectively), while NAC designated the lowest value (-4.69 kcal/mol). GlcNAc showed the highest binding energy of -8.80 kcal/mol against both the target proteins RdRp-RTP site (7BV2) and Helicase-ANP binding site (7NN0).

Conclusion: Since these 22 proteins, including main protease (Mpro) and Papain-like protease (PLpro), are responsible for replication and various pathogenesis processes, it could be concluded that these FDA-approved commercially available compounds have antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2, which should be confirmed with further in vivo and clinical trials.