In silico screening of FDA approved drugs predicts the therapeutic potentials of Antibiotic drugs against the papain like protease of SARS-CoV- 2

Since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome corona Virus -2 (SARS-CoV-2) has happened in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is rapidly increasing worldwide. In the absence of specific drugs against COVID-19, the fast and reliable choice would be repurposing of existing drugs. Here, we have chosen one of the crucial enzymes of the SARS-CoV-2, Papain like protease (PLpro) and its mutant C111S for the structure-based in-silico screening of the FDA approved drugs. Firstly, the alignment of the wild type and mutant PLpro was done, and no significant change in the global structure was observed. Then based on the docking study, we have reported the best 3 compounds against a mutant and wild type PLpro. These lead compounds include amikacin and mafenide, which are well-known antibiotics. The binding affinity, as well as number of polar and non-polar interactions, indicates their potential against the PLpro. This computational study strongly suggests the experimental validations of the predicted compounds for a confident claim.

Cardiovascular Impacts on COVID-19 Infected Patients.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has taken more than 2 million lives on a global scale. Over 10 million people were confirmed with COVID-19 infection. The well-known spot of primary infection includes the lungs and the respiratory system. Recently it has been reported that the cardiovascular system and coagulation mechanisms were the second major targets of biological system affected due to the viral replication. The replication mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 involves the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2- (ACE2) surface receptors of endothelial cells belonging to various organs which act as the binding site for the viral spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2. The COVID-19 virus has been recently listed as a primary risk factor for the following cardiovascular conditions such as pericarditis, myocarditis, arrhythmias, myocardial injury, cardiac arrest, heart failure and coagulation abnormalities in the patients confirmed with COVID-19 viral infection. Direct and indirect type of tissue damage were the two major categories detected with cardiovascular abnormalities. Direct myocardial cell injury and indirect damage to the myocardial cell due to inflammation were clinically reported. Few drugs were clinically administered to regulate the vital biological mechanism along with symptomatic treatment and supportive therapy.

In silico virtual screening-based study of nutraceuticals predicts the therapeutic potentials of folic acid and its derivatives against COVID-19.

The recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in the Wuhan province of China has taken millions of lives worldwide. In this pandemic situation and absence of known drugs and vaccines against novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), there is an urgent need for the repurposing of the existing drugs against it. So, here we have examined a safe and cheap alternative against this virus by screening hundreds of nutraceuticals compounds against known therapeutic targets of SARS-COV-2 by molecular docking. The virtual screening results were then analyzed for binding energy and interactive residues and compared with some already known hits in the best binding pose. All these analyses of this study strongly predicted the potential of Folic acid and its derivates like Tetrahydrofolic acid and 5-methyl tetrahydrofolic acid against SARS-COV-2. The strong and stable binding affinity of this water-soluble vitamin and its derivatives against the SARS-COV-2, indicating that they could be valuable drugs against the management of this COVID-19 pandemic. This study could serve as the starting point for further investigation of these molecules through in vitro and in vivo assays.