High-throughput screening identifies established drugs as SARS-CoV-2 PLpro inhibitors

A new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been identified as the etiologic agent for the COVID-19 outbreak. Currently, effective treatment options remain very limited for this disease; therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new anti-COVID-19 agents. In this study, we screened over 6,000 compounds that included approved drugs, drug candidates in clinical trials, and pharmacologically active compounds to identify leads that target the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro). Together with main protease (M

A Network Pharmacology Approach to Explore the Molecular Mechanism of Taoren-Honghua Pair on Syndrome of Blood Stasis / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

Objective: To explore the molecular mechanism of Taoren-Honghua herb pair (THP) on syndrome of bloodstasis based on the network pharmacology. Methods: We collected THP's compounds from traditional Chinese Medicinedatabases and input them into Pharm Mapper to get their potential targets, and collected the known targets of compoundsby Scifinder. Then we did KEGG-pathway analysis by DAVID database. Finally draw and analyze the network byCytoscape by information above. Results: Seventeen compounds of THP acquired 74 known targets, which was associatedwith four modules: improving the hemodynamics, anticoagulation, anti-inflammation, regulating apoptosis andproliferation. We also got 317 potential targets through PharmMapper and got 128 signaling pathway through pathwayenrichment including 39 disease-related pathways, 25 endocrine-related pathways, 11 immune-related pathways and soon. Conclusion: The four modules of the known target are exactly related to the four characteristics of the syndrome ofblood stasis. The potential targets and the 128 signal pathways involve a variety of pathophysiological processes of thesyndrome of blood stasis. These reflect the molecular mechanism of THP intervention in the syndrome of blood stasis

Structural basis of Zika virus helicase in recognizing its substrates

The recent explosive outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has been reported in South and Central America and the Caribbean. Neonatal microcephaly associated with ZIKV infection has already caused a public health emergency of international concern. No specific vaccines or drugs are currently available to treat ZIKV infection. The ZIKV helicase, which plays a pivotal role in viral RNA replication, is an attractive target for therapy. We determined the crystal structures of ZIKV helicase-ATP-Mn(2+) and ZIKV helicase-RNA. This is the first structure of any flavivirus helicase bound to ATP. Comparisons with related flavivirus helicases have shown that although the critical P-loop in the active site has variable conformations among different species, it adopts an identical mode to recognize ATP/Mn(2+). The structure of ZIKV helicase-RNA has revealed that upon RNA binding, rotations of the motor domains can cause significant conformational changes. Strikingly, although ZIKV and dengue virus (DENV) apo-helicases share conserved residues for RNA binding, their different manners of motor domain rotations result in distinct individual modes for RNA recognition. It suggests that flavivirus helicases could have evolved a conserved engine to convert chemical energy from nucleoside triphosphate to mechanical energy for RNA unwinding, but different motor domain rotations result in variable RNA recognition modes to adapt to individual viral replication.