Selection of Active Antiviral Compounds Against Covid-19 Disease Targeting Coronavirus Endoribonuclease Nendou/NSP15 Via Ligand- Based Virtual Screening and Molecular Docking

Author(s):  
Gaurav Joshi ◽  
Ramarao Poduri

Background: The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 has caused havoc and panic among individuals, which has further worsened due to the unavailability of a proven drug(s) regime. Objective: The current work involves drug repurposing from the pool of USFDA approved drugs involving in silico virtual screening technique against Covid-19. Methods: Methodology involves virtual screening of 8548 FDA approved drugs against target protein endoribonuclease NendoU (Nsp15) (PDB ID: 6VWW). Results: Virtual screening-based analysis enabled us to identify four drugs, Eprosartan, Inarigivir soproxil, Foretinib, and DB01813 that could plausibly target Nsp15 against Covid-19 disease. Conclusion: The work offers the scope to corroborate the findings via in vitro and in vivo techniques to identify the potential of selected leads against Covid-19. The outcome may also help in tracing their molecular mechanism(s) in addition to their development at the clinical level in the future.

Author(s):  
Pamali Fonseka ◽  
Sai V Chitti ◽  
Rahul Sanwlani ◽  
Suresh Mathivanan

AbstractRecently, the study by Im et al. focused on blocking the release of extracellular vesicles (EVs) by cancer cells, as a strategy to block metastasis, by deploying a drug repurposing screen. Upon screening the library of FDA approved drugs in breast cancer cells in vitro, the authors reported the ability of the antibiotic Sulfisoxazole (SFX) in inhibiting EV biogenesis and secretion. SFX was also effective in reducing breast primary tumor burden and blocking metastasis in immunocompromised and immunocompetent mouse models. As we seek a compound to block EV biogenesis and secretion in our current in vivo studies, we intended to use SFX and hence performed in vitro characterization as the first step. However, treatment of two cancer cells with SFX did not reduce the amount of EVs as reported by the authors.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Joshi ◽  
Ramarao Poduri

<p>SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus that is reported to cause infection in Homo sapiens. Considering its pandemic nature, development of newer and effective therapeutic strategies, drug repurposing in combination with target validation approaches has led to the identification of new antiviral molecules. In current work, we performed virtual screening and molecular docking of 8548 ligands on target protein coronavirus endoribonuclease NendoU (3VWW). The molecules selected includes FDA approved drugs along with investigational or experimental drugs recommended for anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial, and antiprotozoal properties. The thorough selection and their rationality with Covid-19 led us to propose that FDA approved drug DB00876 (Eprosartan), Investigational drugs DB15063 (Inarigivir soproxil), DB12307 (Foretinib) and DB01813 an experimental drug may be repurposed for treatment of Covid-19 disease.</p>


Author(s):  
Stuart Weston ◽  
Christopher M. Coleman ◽  
Rob Haupt ◽  
James Logue ◽  
Krystal Matthews ◽  
...  

AbstractSARS-CoV-2 emerged in China at the end of 2019 and has rapidly become a pandemic with roughly 2.7 million recorded COVID-19 cases and greater than 189,000 recorded deaths by April 23rd, 2020 (www.WHO.org). There are no FDA approved antivirals or vaccines for any coronavirus, including SARS-CoV-2. Current treatments for COVID-19 are limited to supportive therapies and off-label use of FDA approved drugs. Rapid development and human testing of potential antivirals is greatly needed. A quick way to test compounds with potential antiviral activity is through drug repurposing. Numerous drugs are already approved for human use and subsequently there is a good understanding of their safety profiles and potential side effects, making them easier to fast-track to clinical studies in COVID-19 patients. Here, we present data on the antiviral activity of 20 FDA approved drugs against SARS-CoV-2 that also inhibit SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. We found that 17 of these inhibit SARS-CoV-2 at a range of IC50 values at non-cytotoxic concentrations. We directly follow up with seven of these to demonstrate all are capable of inhibiting infectious SARS-CoV-2 production. Moreover, we have evaluated two of these, chloroquine and chlorpromazine, in vivo using a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV model and found both drugs protect mice from clinical disease.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Joshi ◽  
Ramarao Poduri

<p>SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus that is reported to cause infection in Homo sapiens. Considering its pandemic nature, development of newer and effective therapeutic strategies, drug repurposing in combination with target validation approaches has led to the identification of new antiviral molecules. In current work, we performed virtual screening and molecular docking of 8548 ligands on target protein coronavirus endoribonuclease NendoU (6VWW). The molecules selected includes FDA approved drugs along with investigational or experimental drugs recommended for anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial, and antiprotozoal properties. The thorough selection and their rationality with Covid-19 led us to propose that FDA approved drug DB00876 (Eprosartan), Investigational drugs DB15063 (Inarigivir soproxil), DB12307 (Foretinib) and DB01813 an experimental drug may be repurposed for treatment of Covid-19 disease.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Keiser ◽  
Cécile Häberli

Abstract Background Infections with Strongyloides stercoralis belong to the most neglected helminth diseases, and research and development (R&D) efforts on novel drugs are inadequate. Methods A commercially available library containing 1600 FDA-approved drugs was tested in vitro against Strongyloides ratti larvae (L3) at 100 µM. Hits (activity > 70%) were then evaluated against S. ratti adult worms at 10 µM. Morantel, prasterone, and levamisole were tested in the S. ratti rat model using dosages of 1–100 mg/kg. Results Seventy-one of the 1600 compounds tested against S. ratti L3 revealed activity above 70%. Of 64 compounds which progressed into the adult screen, seven compounds achieved death of all worms (benzethonium chloride, cetylpyridinium chloride, Gentian violet, methylbenzethonium chloride, morantel citrate, ivermectin, coumaphos), and another eight compounds had activity > 70%. Excluding topical and toxic compounds, three drugs progressed into in vivo studies. Prasterone lacked activity in vivo, while treatment with 100 mg/kg morantel and levamisole cured all rats. The highest in vivo activity was observed with levamisole, yielding a median effective dose (ED50) of 1.1 mg/kg. Conclusions Using a drug repurposing approach, our study identified levamisole as a potential backup drug for strongyloidiasis. Levamisole should be evaluated in exploratory clinical trials. Graphical Abstract


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Joshi ◽  
Ramarao Poduri

<p>SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus that is reported to cause infection in Homo sapiens. Considering its pandemic nature, development of newer and effective therapeutic strategies, drug repurposing in combination with target validation approaches has led to the identification of new antiviral molecules. In current work, we performed virtual screening and molecular docking of 8548 ligands on target protein coronavirus endoribonuclease NendoU (6VWW). The molecules selected includes FDA approved drugs along with investigational or experimental drugs recommended for anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial, and antiprotozoal properties. The thorough selection and their rationality with Covid-19 led us to propose that FDA approved drug DB00876 (Eprosartan), Investigational drugs DB15063 (Inarigivir soproxil), DB12307 (Foretinib) and DB01813 an experimental drug may be repurposed for treatment of Covid-19 disease.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-27
Author(s):  
Zahra Sharifinia ◽  
◽  
Samira Asadi ◽  
Mahyar Irani ◽  
Abdollah Allahverdi ◽  
...  

Objective: The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the S1 domain of the SARS-CoV- 2 Spike protein performs a key role in the interaction with Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), leading to both subsequent S2 domain-mediated membrane fusion and incorporation of viral RNA in host cells. Methods: In this study, we investigated the inhibitor’s targeted compounds through existing human ACE2 drugs to use as a future viral invasion. 54 FDA approved drugs were selected to assess their binding affinity to the ACE2 receptor. The structurebased methods via computational ones have been used for virtual screening of the best drugs from the drug database. Key Findings: The ligands “Cinacalcet” and “Levomefolic acid” highaffinity scores can be a potential drug preventing Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and human ACE2 interaction. Levomefolic acid from vitamin B family was proved to be a potential drug as a spike protein inhibitor in previous clinical and computational studies. Besides that, in this study, the capability of Levomefolic acid to avoid ACE2 and Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 interaction is indicated. Therefore, it is worth to consider this drug for more in vitro investigations as ACE2 and Spike protein inhibition candidate. Conclusion: The two Cinacalcet and Levomefolic acid are the two ligands that have highest energy binding for human ACE2 blocking among 54 FDA approved drugs.


Author(s):  
Carlos Javier Alméciga-Díaz ◽  
Luisa N. Pimentel-Vera ◽  
Angela Caro ◽  
Angela Mosquera ◽  
Camilo Andrés Castellanos Moreno ◽  
...  

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) was first described in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China; and produced by a novel coronavirus designed as the acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Covid-19 has become a pandemic reaching over 1.3 million confirmed cases and 73,000 deaths. Several efforts have been done to identify pharmacological agents that can be used to treat patients and protect healthcare professionals. The sequencing of the virus genome not only has offered the possibility to develop a vaccine, but also to identified and characterize the virus proteins. Among these proteins, main protease (Mpro) has been identified as a potential therapeutic target, since it is essential for the processing other viral proteins. Crystal structures of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and inhibitors has been described during the last months. To describe additional compounds that can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, in this study we performed a molecular docking-based virtual screening against a library of experimental and approved drugs. Top 10 hits included Pictilisib, Nimorazole, Ergoloid mesylates, Lumacaftor, Cefuroxime, Cepharanhine, and Nilotinib. These compounds were predicted to have higher binding affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro than previously reported inhibitors for this protein, suggesting a higher potential to inhibit virus replication. Since the identified drugs have both pre-clinical and clinical information, we consider that these results may contribute to the identification of treatment alternative for Covid-19. Nevertheless, in vitro and in vivo confirmation should be performed before these compounds could be translated to the clinic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (28) ◽  
pp. e2026403118
Author(s):  
Kewa Jiang ◽  
Jiyang Zhang ◽  
Yuping Huang ◽  
Yingzheng Wang ◽  
Shuo Xiao ◽  
...  

A significant unmet need for new contraceptive options for both women and men remains due to side-effect profiles, medical concerns, and the inconvenience of many currently available contraceptive products. Unfortunately, the development of novel nonsteroidal female contraceptive medicine has been stalled in the last couple of decades due to the lack of effective screening platforms. Drosophila utilizes conserved signaling pathways for follicle rupture, a final step in ovulation that is essential for female reproduction. Therefore, we explored the potential to use Drosophila as a model to screen compounds that could inhibit follicle rupture and be nonsteroidal contraceptive candidates. Using our ex vivo follicle rupture assay, we screened 1,172 Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved drugs and identified six drugs that could inhibit Drosophila follicle rupture in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, we characterized the molecular actions of these drugs in the inhibition of adrenergic signaling and follicle rupture. Furthermore, we validated that three of the four drugs consistently inhibited mouse follicle rupture in vitro and that two of them did not affect progesterone production. Finally, we showed that chlorpromazine, one of the candidate drugs, can significantly inhibit mouse follicle rupture in vivo. Our work suggests that Drosophila ovulation is a valuable platform for identifying lead compounds for nonsteroidal contraceptive development and highlights the potential of these FDA-approved drugs as novel nonsteroidal contraceptive agents.


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