TY - JOUR
AU - Neary, Megan
AU - Sharp, Joanne
AU - Gallardo-Toledo, Eduardo
AU - Herriott, Joanne
AU - Kijak, Edyta
AU - Bramwell, Chloe
AU - Cox, Helen
AU - Tatham, Lee
AU - Box, Helen
AU - Curley, Paul
AU - Arshad, Usman
AU - Rajoli, Rajith K.R.
AU - Pertinez, Henry
AU - Valentijn, Anthony
AU - Dhaliwal, Kevin
AU - Mc Caughan, Frank
AU - Hobson, James
AU - Rannard, Steve
AU - Kipar, Anja
AU - Stewart, James P.
AU - Owen, Andrew
PY - 2023
DA - August
TI - Evaluation of Nafamostat as Chemoprophylaxis for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Hamsters
JO - Viruses
VL - 15
IS - 8
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/v15081744
AB - The successful development of a chemoprophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2 could provide a tool for infection prevention that is implementable alongside vaccination programmes. Nafamostat is a serine protease inhibitor that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 entry in vitro, but it has not been characterised for chemoprophylaxis in animal models. Clinically, nafamostat is limited to intravenous delivery and has an extremely short plasma half-life. This study sought to determine whether intranasal dosing of nafamostat at 5 mg/kg twice daily was able to prevent the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from infected to uninfected Syrian Golden hamsters. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detectable in the throat swabs of the water-treated control group 4 days after cohabitation with a SARS-CoV-2 inoculated hamster. However, throat swabs from the intranasal nafamostat-treated hamsters remained SARS-CoV-2 RNA negative for the full 4 days of cohabitation. Significantly lower SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations were seen in the nasal turbinates of the nafamostat-treated group compared to the control (p = 0.001). A plaque assay quantified a significantly lower concentration of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in the lungs of the nafamostat-treated group compared to the control (p = 0.035). When taken collectively with the pathological changes observed in the lungs and nasal mucosa, these data are strongly supportive of the utility of intranasally delivered nafamostat for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
PB - MDPI
UR - https://publichealthscotland.scot/id/226477
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
ER