Antioxidant Potential of Antiviral Drug Umifenovir

Abstract

Free radical reactions play an important role in biological functions of living systems. The balance between oxidants and antioxidants is necessary for the normal homeostasis of cells and organisms. Experimental works demonstrate the role of oxidative stress that is caused by influenza virus as well as the toxic effects of some antiviral drugs. Therefore, antiviral drugs should be characterized by its pro-and antioxidant activity, because it can affect its therapeutic efficiency. The aim of the study was to quantify the antioxidant capacity and propose the mechanism of the antioxidant effect of the antiviral drug Umifenovir (Arbidol ® ). The kinetic chemiluminescence with the 2,2'-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride + luminol system was used to quantify the antioxidant capacity of Umifenovir relative to the standard compound Trolox. With computer simulation, the reaction scheme and rate constants were proposed. The antioxidant capacity of 0.9 µM Umifenovir (maximum concentration of Umifenovir in blood after oral administration of 200 mg) was as high as 1.65 ± 0.18 µM of Trolox. Thus, the total antioxidant capacity of Umifenovir is comparable to the antioxidant capacity of Trolox. Unlike Trolox, Umifenovir reacts with free radicals in two stages. For Trolox, the free radical scavenging rate constant was k = 2000 nM −1 min. −1 , for Umifenovir k 1 = 300 nM −1 min. −1 , k 2 = 4 nM −1 min. −1 . Slower kinetics of Umifenovir provides the prolonged antioxidant effect when compared to Trolox. This phenomenon can make a serious contribution to the compensation of oxidative stress that is caused by a viral disease and the therapeutic effect of the drug.

Clinical efficacy of antivirals against novel coronavirus (COVID-19): A review

“…Umifenovir (Arbidol) ( Table 4 ) is an indole derivative antiviral therapy approved in China and Russia for treatment of influenza A and B virus and shows activity against verities of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses [ 51 ]. In vitro, Arbidol shows effective antiviral activity against SARS COV-2 [ 52 , 53 ].…”

Antiviral mechanisms of candidate chemical medicines and traditional Chinese medicines for SARS-CoV-2 infection

“…(Chen et al, 2020a;Delang et al, 2018;Dong et al, 2020;Liu and Li, 2020) (continued on next page) of macrophages (Blaising et al, 2014;Haviernik et al, 2018). Moreover, ARB exhibits a prolonged antioxidant capacity by reacting with free radicals in two stages (Proskurnina et al, 2020). Therefore, it was supposed that ARB can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection at several stages, which is currently used in several clinical trials for the COVID-19 treatment.…”

Antivirals Against Coronaviruses: Candidate Drugs for SARS-CoV-2 Treatment?

“…Another antiviral drug assayed toward SARS-CoV-2 is Umifenovir, a licensed antiviral exploited for the prophylaxis and treatment of influenza viruses (Arbidol), which demonstrated good pharmacokinetics when absorbed by the organism ( Proskurnina et al, 2020 ). This drug has an antiviral effect against SARS-CoV in vitro at 50 μg mL –1 ( Khamitov et al, 2008 ).…”