scholarly journals Screening of Clinically Approved and Investigation Drugs as Potential Inhibitors of COVID-19 Main Protease: A Virtual Drug Repurposing Study

Author(s):  
Serdar Durdagi ◽  
Busecan Aksoydan ◽  
Berna Dogan ◽  
Kader Sahin ◽  
Aida Shahraki

<div>There is an urgent need for a new drug against COVID-19. Since designing a new drug and testing its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties may take years, here we used a physics-driven high throughput virtual screening drug re-purposing approach to identify new compounds against COVID-19. As the molecules considered in repurposing studies passed through several stages and have well-defined profiles, they would not require prolonged preclinical studies and hence, they would be excellent candidates in the cases of disease emergencies or outbreaks. While the spike protein is the key for the virus to enter the cell though the interaction with ACE2, enzymes such as main protease are crucial for the life cycle of the virus. This protein is one of the most attractive targets for the development of new drugs against</div><div>COVID-19 due to its pivotal role in the replication and transcription of the virus. We used 7922 FDA approved small molecule drugs as well as compounds in clinical investigation from NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) Pharmaceutical Collection (NPC) database in our drug repurposing study. Both apo and holo forms of target protein COVID-19 main proteases were used in virtual screening. Target proteins were retrieved from protein data bank (PDB IDs, 6M03 and 6LU7). Standard Precision (SP) protocol of Glide docking program of Maestro was used in docking. Compounds were then ranked based on their docking scores that represents binding energies. Top-30 compounds from each docking simulations were considered initially in short (10-ns) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and their average binding energies using collected 1000 trajectories throughout the MD simulations were calculated by Molecular Mechanics Generalized Born Surface Area (MM/GBSA) method. Selected promising hit compounds based on average MM/GBSA scores were then used in long (100-ns) MD simulations. These numerical calculations showed that the following 6 compounds can be considered as COVID-19 Main Protease inhibitors: Lasinavir, Brecanavir, Telinavir, Rotigaptide, 1,3-Bis-(2-ethoxycarbonylchromon-5-yloxy)-2-(lysyloxy)propane and Pimelautide.</div>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serdar Durdagi ◽  
Busecan Aksoydan ◽  
Berna Dogan ◽  
Kader Sahin ◽  
Aida Shahraki ◽  
...  

In this virtual drug repurposing study, we used 7922 FDA approved drugs and compounds in clinical investigation from NPC database. Both apo and holo forms of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease as well as Spike Protein/ACE2 were used for virtual screening. Initially, docking was performed for these compounds at target binding sites. The compounds were then sorted according to their docking scores which represent binding energies. The first 100 compounds from each docking simulations were initially subjected to short (10 ns) MD simulations (in total 300 ligand-bound complexes), and average binding energies during MD simulations were calculated using the MM/GBSA method. Then, the selected promising hit compounds based on average MM/GBSA scores were used in long (100-ns and 500-ns) MD simulations. In total around 15 µs MD simulations were performed in this study. Both docking and MD simulations binding free energy calculations showed that holo form of the target protein is more appropriate choice for virtual drug screening studies. These numerical calculations have shown that the following 8 compounds can be considered as SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease inhibitors: Pimelautide, Rotigaptide, Telinavir, Ritonavir, Pinokalant, Terlakiren, Cefotiam and Cefpiramide. In addition, following 5 compounds were identified as potential SARS-CoV-2 ACE-2/Spike protein domain inhibitors: Denopamine, Bometolol, Naminterol, Rotigaptide and Benzquercin. These compounds can be clinically tested and if the simulation results validated, they may be considered to be used as treatment for COVID-19.


Author(s):  
Serdar Durdagi ◽  
Busecan Aksoydan ◽  
Berna Dogan ◽  
Kader Sahin ◽  
Aida Shahraki ◽  
...  

In this virtual drug repurposing study, we used 7922 FDA approved drugs and compounds in clinical investigation from NPC database. Both apo and holo forms of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease as well as Spike Protein/ACE2 were used for virtual screening. Initially, docking was performed for these compounds at target binding sites. The compounds were then sorted according to their docking scores which represent binding energies. The first 100 compounds from each docking simulations were initially subjected to short (10 ns) MD simulations (in total 300 ligand-bound complexes), and average binding energies during MD simulations were calculated using the MM/GBSA method. Then, the selected promising hit compounds based on average MM/GBSA scores were used in long (100-ns and 500-ns) MD simulations. In total around 15 µs MD simulations were performed in this study. Both docking and MD simulations binding free energy calculations showed that holo form of the target protein is more appropriate choice for virtual drug screening studies. These numerical calculations have shown that the following 8 compounds can be considered as SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease inhibitors: Pimelautide, Rotigaptide, Telinavir, Ritonavir, Pinokalant, Terlakiren, Cefotiam and Cefpiramide. In addition, following 5 compounds were identified as potential SARS-CoV-2 ACE-2/Spike protein domain inhibitors: Denopamine, Bometolol, Naminterol, Rotigaptide and Benzquercin. These compounds can be clinically tested and if the simulation results validated, they may be considered to be used as treatment for COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeynab Fakhar ◽  
Shama Khan ◽  
Suliman Y. AlOmar ◽  
Afrah Alkhuriji ◽  
Aijaz Ahmad

AbstractA new pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread worldwide and become pandemic with thousands new deaths and infected cases globally. To address coronavirus disease (COVID-19), currently no effective drug or vaccine is available. This necessity motivated us to explore potential lead compounds by considering drug repurposing approach targeting main protease (Mpro) enzyme of SARS-CoV-2. This enzyme considered to be an attractive drug target as it contributes significantly in mediating viral replication and transcription. Herein, comprehensive computational investigations were performed to identify potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro enzyme. The structure-based pharmacophore modeling was developed based on the co-crystallized structure of the enzyme with its biological active inhibitor. The generated hypotheses were applied for virtual screening based PhaseScore. Docking based virtual screening workflow was used to generate hit compounds using HTVS, SP and XP based Glide GScore. The pharmacological and physicochemical properties of the selected lead compounds were characterized using ADMET. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to explore the binding affinities of the considered lead compounds. Binding energies revealed that compound ABBV-744 binds to the Mpro with strong affinity (ΔGbind −45.43 kcal/mol), and the complex is more stable in comparison with other protein–ligand complexes. Our study classified three best compounds which could be considered as promising inhibitors against main protease SARS-CoV-2 virus.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1011
Author(s):  
Muhammad Fayyaz ur Rehman ◽  
Shahzaib Akhter ◽  
Aima Iram Batool ◽  
Zeliha Selamoglu ◽  
Mustafa Sevindik ◽  
...  

The SARS CoV-2 pandemic has affected millions of people around the globe. Despite many efforts to find some effective medicines against SARS CoV-2, no established therapeutics are available yet. The use of phytochemicals as antiviral agents provides hope against the proliferation of SARS-CoV-2. Several natural compounds were analyzed by virtual screening against six SARS CoV-2 protein targets using molecular docking simulations in the present study. More than a hundred plant-derived secondary metabolites have been docked, including alkaloids, flavonoids, coumarins, and steroids. SARS CoV-2 protein targets include Main protease (MPro), Papain-like protease (PLpro), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), Spike glycoprotein (S), Helicase (Nsp13), and E-Channel protein. Phytochemicals were evaluated by molecular docking, and MD simulations were performed using the YASARA structure using a modified genetic algorithm and AMBER03 force field. Binding energies and dissociation constants allowed the identification of potentially active compounds. Ligand-protein interactions provide an insight into the mechanism and potential of identified compounds. Glycyrrhizin and its metabolite 18-β-glycyrrhetinic acid have shown a strong binding affinity for MPro, helicase, RdRp, spike, and E-channel proteins, while a flavonoid Baicalin also strongly binds against PLpro and RdRp. The use of identified phytochemicals may help to speed up the drug development and provide natural protection against SARS-CoV-2.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serdar Durdagi

<p>Currently, the world suffers from a new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need for the urgent development of novel drugs and vaccines for COVID-19. Since it can take years to develop new drugs against this disease, here we used a hybrid combined molecular modeling approach in virtual drug screening repurposing study to identify new compounds against this disease. One of the important SARS-CoV-2 targets namely type 2 transmembrane serine protease (TMPRSS2) was screened with NPC’s NIH small molecule library which includes approved drugs by FDA and compounds in clinical investigation. We used 6654 small molecules in molecular docking and top-50 docking scored compounds were initially used in short (10-ns) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Based on average MM/GBSA binding free energy results, long (100-ns) MD simulations were employed for the identified hits. Both binding energy results as well as crucial residues in ligand binding were also compared with a positive control TMPRSS2 inhibitor, Camostat mesylate. Based on these numerical calculations we proposed a compound (benzquercin) as strong TMPRSS2 inhibitor. If these results can be validated by in vitro and in vivo studies, benzquercin can be considered to be used as inhibitor of TMPRSS2 at the clinical studies.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serdar Durdagi

<p>Currently, the world suffers from a new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need for the urgent development of novel drugs and vaccines for COVID-19. Since it can take years to develop new drugs against this disease, here we used a hybrid combined molecular modeling approach in virtual drug screening repurposing study to identify new compounds against this disease. One of the important SARS-CoV-2 targets namely type 2 transmembrane serine protease (TMPRSS2) was screened with NPC’s NIH small molecule library which includes approved drugs by FDA and compounds in clinical investigation. We used 6654 small molecules in molecular docking and top-50 docking scored compounds were initially used in short (10-ns) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Based on average MM/GBSA binding free energy results, long (100-ns) MD simulations were employed for the identified hits. Both binding energy results as well as crucial residues in ligand binding were also compared with a positive control TMPRSS2 inhibitor, Camostat mesylate. Based on these numerical calculations we proposed a compound (benzquercin) as strong TMPRSS2 inhibitor. If these results can be validated by in vitro and in vivo studies, benzquercin can be considered to be used as inhibitor of TMPRSS2 at the clinical studies.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillem Macip ◽  
Pol Garcia‐Segura ◽  
Júlia Mestres‐Truyol ◽  
Bryan Saldivar‐Espinoza ◽  
María José Ojeda‐Montes ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marzieh omrani ◽  
Mohammad Bayati ◽  
Parvaneh Mehrbod ◽  
Samad Nejad-Ebrahimi

Abstract Background: The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causes a severe respiratory illness that was unknown in the human before. Its alarmingly quick transmission to many countries across the world resulted in a worldwide health emergency. It has caused a notable percentage of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, an imminent need for drugs to combat this disease has been increased. Global collaborative efforts from scientists are underway to find a therapy to treat infections and reduce death cases. Herbal medicines and purified natural products have been reported to have antiviral activity against Coronaviruses (CoVs).Methods: In this study, a High Throughput Virtual Screening (HTVS) protocol was used as a fast method on the discovery of novel drug candidates as the COVID-19 main protease inhibitors. Over 180,000 natural product-based compounds were obtained from the ZINC database and virtually screened against the COVID-19 main protease. In this study, the Glide docking program was applied for high throughput virtual screening. Extra precision (XP) and in a combination of Prime module, induced-fit docking (IFD) approach was also used. Additionally, the ADME properties of all compounds were analyzed, and the final selection was carried out based on the Lipinski rule of five. Results: The nineteen compounds were selected and introduced as new potential inhibitors. The compound ZINC08765174 (1-[3-(1H-indol-3-yl) propanoyl]-N-(4-phenylbutan-2-yl)piperidine-3-carboxamide) showed a strong binding affinity (-11.5 kcal/mol) to the crucial residues of COVID-19 main protease comparing to peramivir (-9.8 kcal/mol) as a positive control.Conclusions: The excellent ADME properties proposed the opportunity of this compound to be a promising candidate for the treatment of COVID-19.


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