<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Recently, an outbreak of a fatal coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has emerged from China and is rapidly spreading worldwide. Possible interaction of SARS-CoV-2 with DPP4 peptidase may partly contribute to the viral pathogenesis. An integrative bioinformatics approach starting with mining the biomedical literature for high confidence DPP4-protein/gene associations followed by functional analysis using network analysis and pathway enrichment was adopted. The results indicate that the identified DPP4 networks are highly enriched in viral processes required for viral entry and infection, and as a result, we propose DPP4 as an important putative target for the treatment of COVID-19. Additionally, our protein-chemical interaction networks identified important interactions between DPP4 and sitagliptin. We conclude that sitagliptin may be beneficial for the treatment of COVID-19 disease, either as monotherapy or in combination with other therapies, especially for diabetic patients and patients with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions who are already at higher risk of COVID-19 mortality.</p></abstract>

Recently, an outbreak of a fatal coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has emerged from China and is rapidly spreading worldwide. Possible interaction of SARS-CoV-2 with DPP4 peptidase may partly contribute to the viral pathogenesis. An integrative bioinformatics approach starting with mining the biomedical literature for high confidence DPP4-protein/gene associations followed by functional analysis using network analysis and pathway enrichment was adopted. The results indicate that the identified DPP4 networks are highly enriched in viral processes required for viral entry and infection, and as a result, we propose DPP4 as an important putative target for the treatment of COVID-19. Additionally, our protein-chemical interaction networks identified important interactions between DPP4 and sitagliptin. We conclude that sitagliptin may be beneficial for the treatment of COVID-19 disease, either as monotherapy or in combination with other therapies, especially for diabetic patients and patients with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions who are already at higher risk of COVID-19 mortality.

Sitagliptin: a potential drug for the treatment of COVID-19?

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences School of Pharmacy

Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy

Acta Pharmaceutica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Sitagliptin: a potential drug for the treatment of COVID-19?"}

Recently, an outbreak of a fatal coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has emerged from China and is rapidly spreading worldwide. Possible interaction of SARS-CoV-2 with...

Sitagliptin: a potential drug for the treatment of COVID-19?

Published Online: Nov 04, 2020

Page range: 175 - 184

Accepted: Apr 15, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acph-2021-0013

Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, DPP4, ACE2, sitagliptin, drug repurposing, CXCL10

© 2021 Sanaa K. Bardaweel et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sitagliptin: a potential drug for the treatment of COVID-19?

Published Online: Nov 04, 2020

Page range: 175 - 184

Accepted: Apr 15, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acph-2021-0013

KeywordsSARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, DPP4, ACE2, sitagliptin, drug repurposing, CXCL10

© 2021 Sanaa K. Bardaweel et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, DPP4, ACE2, sitagliptin, drug repurposing, CXCL10