scholarly journals Potent Noncovalent Inhibitors of the Main Protease of SARS-CoV-2 from Molecular Sculpting of the Drug Perampanel Guided by Free Energy Perturbation Calculations

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Hui Zhang ◽  
Elizabeth A. Stone ◽  
Maya Deshmukh ◽  
Joseph A. Ippolito ◽  
Mohammad M. Ghahremanpour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Main Protease ◽  
Energy Perturbation

scholarly journals Identify potent SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors via accelerated free energy perturbation-based virtual screening of existing drugs

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (44) ◽  
pp. 27381-27387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Li ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Yi-You Huang ◽  
Yaoxing Wu ◽  
Runduo Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Virtual Screening ◽  
Binding Free Energy ◽  
Drug Repurposing ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Screening Approach ◽  
Main Protease ◽  
Energy Perturbation ◽  
Virtual Screening Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global crisis. There is no therapeutic treatment specific for COVID-19. It is highly desirable to identify potential antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2 from existing drugs available for other diseases and thus repurpose them for treatment of COVID-19. In general, a drug repurposing effort for treatment of a new disease, such as COVID-19, usually starts from a virtual screening of existing drugs, followed by experimental validation, but the actual hit rate is generally rather low with traditional computational methods. Here we report a virtual screening approach with accelerated free energy perturbation-based absolute binding free energy (FEP-ABFE) predictions and its use in identifying drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro). The accurate FEP-ABFE predictions were based on the use of a restraint energy distribution (RED) function, making the practical FEP-ABFE−based virtual screening of the existing drug library possible. As a result, out of 25 drugs predicted, 15 were confirmed as potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. The most potent one is dipyridamole (inhibitory constant Ki= 0.04 µM) which has shown promising therapeutic effects in subsequently conducted clinical studies for treatment of patients with COVID-19. Additionally, hydroxychloroquine (Ki= 0.36 µM) and chloroquine (Ki= 0.56 µM) were also found to potently inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. We anticipate that the FEP-ABFE prediction-based virtual screening approach will be useful in many other drug repurposing or discovery efforts.

scholarly journals Identify potent SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors via accelerated free energy perturbation-based virtual screening of existing drugs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Li ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Yi-You Huang ◽  
Yaoxing Wu ◽  
Runduo Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Virtual Screening ◽  
Binding Free Energy ◽  
Drug Repurposing ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Hit Rate ◽  
Screening Approach ◽  
Main Protease ◽  
Energy Perturbation ◽  
Virtual Screening Approach

AbstractCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global crisis. There is no therapeutic treatment specific for COVID-19. It is highly desirable to identify potential antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2 from existing drugs available for other diseases and, thus, repurpose them for treatment of COVID-19. In general, a drug repurposing effort for treatment of a new disease, such as COVID-19, usually starts from a virtual screening of existing drugs, followed by experimental validation, but the actual hit rate is generally rather low with traditional computational methods. Here we report a new virtual screening approach with accelerated free energy perturbation-based absolute binding free energy (FEP-ABFE) predictions and its use in identifying drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro). The accurate FEP-ABFE predictions were based on the use of a new restraint energy distribution (RED) function designed to accelerate the FEP-ABFE calculations and make the practical FEP-ABFE-based virtual screening of the existing drug library possible for the first time. As a result, out of twenty-five drugs predicted, fifteen were confirmed as potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. The most potent one is dipyridamole (Ki=0.04 μM) which has showed promising therapeutic effects in subsequently conducted clinical studies for treatment of patients with COVID-19. Additionally, hydroxychloroquine (Ki=0.36 μM) and chloroquine (Ki=0.56 μM) were also found to potently inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro for the first time. We anticipate that the FEP-ABFE prediction-based virtual screening approach will be useful in many other drug repurposing or discovery efforts.Significance StatementDrug repurposing effort for treatment of a new disease, such as COVID-19, usually starts from a virtual screening of existing drugs, followed by experimental validation, but the actual hit rate is generally rather low with traditional computational methods. It has been demonstrated that a new virtual screening approach with accelerated free energy perturbation-based absolute binding free energy (FEP-ABFE) predictions can reach an unprecedently high hit rate, leading to successful identification of 16 potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) from computationally selected 25 drugs under a threshold of Ki = 4 μM. The outcomes of this study are valuable for not only drug repurposing to treat COVID-19, but also demonstrating the promising potential of the FEP-ABFE prediction-based virtual screening approach.

scholarly journals Assessing Potential Inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease from Available Drugs using Free Energy Perturbation Simulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Son Tung Ngo ◽  
Hung Minh Nguyen ◽  
Le Thi Thuy Huong ◽  
Pham Minh Quan ◽  
Vi Khanh Truong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Molecular Docking ◽  
Binding Affinity ◽  
Binding Free Energy ◽  
Accurate Method ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Main Protease ◽  
Energy Perturbation ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Potential Inhibitors

<div> <p>The main protease (Mpro) of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 pandemic, is responsible for the maturation of its key proteins. Thus, inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 Mpro could prevent SARS-CoV-2 from multiplying. Because new inhibitors require thorough validation, repurposing current drugs could help reduce the validation process. Many recent studies used molecular docking to screen large databases for potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. However, molecular docking does not consider molecular dynamics and thus can be prone to error. In this work, we developed a protocol using free energy perturbation (FEP) to assess the potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. We first tested both molecular docking and FEP on a set of 11 inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro with experimentally determined inhibitory data. The experimentally deduced binding free energy exhibits significantly stronger correlation with that predicted by FEP (R = 0.94 ± 0.04) than with that predicted by molecular docking (R = 0.82 ± 0.08). This result clearly shows that FEP is the most accurate method available to estimate the binding affinity of a ligand to SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. We subsequently used FEP to validate the top 33 compounds screened with molecular docking from the ZINC15 database. Thirteen of these compounds were predicted to have strong binding affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, most of which are currently used as drugs for various diseases in humans. Notably, delamanid, an anti-tuberculosis drug, was predicted to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro in the nanomolar range. Because both COVID-19 and tuberculosis are lung diseases, delamanid has higher probability to be suitable for treating COVID-19 than other predicted compounds. Analysis of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and the top inhibitors revealed the key residues involved in the binding, including the catalytic dyad His14 and Cys145, which is consistent with the structural studies reported recently.</p> </div> <br>

scholarly journals Assessing Potential Inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease from Available Drugs using Free Energy Perturbation Simulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Son Tung Ngo ◽  
Hung Minh Nguyen ◽  
Le Thi Thuy Huong ◽  
Pham Minh Quan ◽  
Vi Khanh Truong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Virtual Screening ◽  
Binding Affinity ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Screening Approach ◽  
Main Protease ◽  
Energy Perturbation ◽  
Potential Inhibitors ◽  
Virtual Screening Approach

A virtual screening approach using docking and free energy pertubation was successfully validated with previously characterized inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro). This approach and then used to estimate the binding affinity to Mpro of more than 6300 compounds in the ZINC15 database. Delamanid, an anti-tuberculosis agent, has a predicted nanomolar binding affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and is thus a promissing drug candiate for COVID-19. In addition, several compounds including three antibiotics exhibits femtomolar affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. The residues around positions 24, 45, 143, 165, and 190 were found to be involved in the binding of the strongest inhibitors.

scholarly journals Assessing potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease from available drugs using free energy perturbation simulations

RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (66) ◽  
pp. 40284-40290
Author(s):  
Son Tung Ngo ◽  
Hung Minh Nguyen ◽  
Le Thi Thuy Huong ◽  
Pham Minh Quan ◽  
Vi Khanh Truong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Binding Affinity ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Protease ◽  
Energy Perturbation ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Potential Inhibitors

Free Energy Pertubation (FEP) can be used to accurately predict the binding affinity of a ligand to the main protease (Mpro) of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

scholarly journals Assessing Potential Inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease from Available Drugs using Free Energy Perturbation Simulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Son Tung Ngo ◽  
Hung Minh Nguyen ◽  
Le Thi Thuy Huong ◽  
Pham Minh Quan ◽  
Vi Khanh Truong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Molecular Docking ◽  
Binding Affinity ◽  
Binding Free Energy ◽  
Accurate Method ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Main Protease ◽  
Energy Perturbation ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Potential Inhibitors

<div> <p>The main protease (Mpro) of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 pandemic, is responsible for the maturation of its key proteins. Thus, inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 Mpro could prevent SARS-CoV-2 from multiplying. Because new inhibitors require thorough validation, repurposing current drugs could help reduce the validation process. Many recent studies used molecular docking to screen large databases for potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. However, molecular docking does not consider molecular dynamics and thus can be prone to error. In this work, we developed a protocol using free energy perturbation (FEP) to assess the potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. We first tested both molecular docking and FEP on a set of 11 inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro with experimentally determined inhibitory data. The experimentally deduced binding free energy exhibits significantly stronger correlation with that predicted by FEP (R = 0.94 ± 0.04) than with that predicted by molecular docking (R = 0.82 ± 0.08). This result clearly shows that FEP is the most accurate method available to estimate the binding affinity of a ligand to SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. We subsequently used FEP to validate the top 33 compounds screened with molecular docking from the ZINC15 database. Thirteen of these compounds were predicted to have strong binding affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, most of which are currently used as drugs for various diseases in humans. Notably, delamanid, an anti-tuberculosis drug, was predicted to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro in the nanomolar range. Because both COVID-19 and tuberculosis are lung diseases, delamanid has higher probability to be suitable for treating COVID-19 than other predicted compounds. Analysis of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and the top inhibitors revealed the key residues involved in the binding, including the catalytic dyad His14 and Cys145, which is consistent with the structural studies reported recently.</p> </div> <br>

Free Energy Perturbation Calculations on Glucosidase-Inhibitor Complexes

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 455-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Ruiz ◽  
J. Grigera
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Glucosidase Inhibitor ◽  
Energy Perturbation

scholarly journals Free energy perturbation calculations on binding and catalysis after mutating threonine 220 in subtilisin

1991 ◽  
Vol 266 (18) ◽  
pp. 11801-11809
Author(s):  
N. Mizushima ◽  
D. Spellmeyer ◽  
S. Hirono ◽  
D. Pearlman ◽  
P. Kollman
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Free Energy Perturbation ◽  
Energy Perturbation
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document