Abstract 794: Repurposing of poly-γ-glutamic acid, immunotherapeutic drug for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1, as covid-19 treatment
Authors: Yoo Chan-Hee , Choi Jae Chul , Lee Do Young , Lee Chun-Soo , Park Young-Chul 
Published: April 2023

Covid-19 virus variants identified so far are due to viral genetic diversity, genetic evolution, and variable infectivity, suggesting that high infection rates and high mortality rates may be contributed by these mutations. And it has been reported that the targeting strategies for innate immunity should be less vulnerable to viral evolution, variant emergence and resistance. Therefore, the most effective solution to Covid-19 infection has been proposed to prevent and treat severe exacerbation of patients with moderate disease by enhancing human immune responses such as NK cell and T cell. In previous studies, we demonstrated for the first time that γ-PGA induced significant antitumor activity and antiviral activity by modulating NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Especially intranasal administration of γ-PGA was found to effectively induce protective innate and CTL immune responses against viruses and we found out that γ-PGA can be an effective treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 through phase 2b clinical trial. In this study, the possibility of γ-PGA as a Covid-19 immune modulating agent was confirmed by animal experiments infected with Covid-19 viruses. After oral administration of γ-PGA 300μg/mouse once a day for 5 days in a K18-hACE2 TG mouse model infected with SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 43326; original strain) and SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 43390; Delta variant), virus titer and clinical symptom improvement were confirmed. In the RjHan:AURA Syrian hamster model infected with SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 49930; Delta variant), 350 or 550 μg/head of γ-PGA was administered orally for 10 days once a day. The virus for infection was administered at 5 × 104 TCID50, and the titer of virus and the improvement of pneumonia lesions were measured to confirm the effectiveness in terms of prevention or treatment. In the mouse model infected with original Covid-19 virus stain, the weight loss was significantly reduced and the survival rate was also improved by the administration of γ-PGA. And γ-PGA alleviated the pneumonic lesions and reduced the virus titer of lung tissue in mice infected with delta variant. In the delta-variant virus infected hamster model, γ-PGA showed statistically significant improvement of weight loss and lung inflammation during administration after infection. This is a promising result for possibility of Covid-19 therapeutics along with the efficacy results of mouse model, suggesting γ-PGA can be therapeutic candidate to modulate an innate immune response for Covid-19.

Citation Format: Chan-Hee Yoo, Jae Chul Choi, Do Young Lee, Chun-Soo Lee, Young-Chul Park. Repurposing of poly-γ-glutamic acid, immunotherapeutic drug for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1, as covid-19 treatment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 794.