Study of potentiality of dexamethasone and its derivatives against Covid-19.

In December 2019, COVID-19 epidemic was reported in Wuhan, China, and subsequently the infection has spread all over the world and became pandemic. The death toll associated with the pandemic is increasing day by day in a high rate. Herein, an effort has been made to identify the potentiality of commercially available drugs and also their probable derivatives for creation of better opportunity to make more powerful drugs against coronavirus. This study involves the in-silico interactions of dexamethasone and its derivatives against the multiple proteins of SARS-CoV-2 with the help of various computational methods. Descriptor parameters revealed their non-toxic effect in the human body. Ultimately docking studies and molecular dynamic simulation on those target protein by dexamethasone and its derivatives showed a high binding energy. Dexamethasone showed -9.8 kcal/mol and its derivative D5 showed -12.1 kcal/mol binding energy. Those scores indicate that dexamethasone has more therapeutic effect on SARS CoV-2 than other currently used drugs. Derivatives give the clue for the synthesis of a novel drug to remove SARS CoV-2. Until then, dexamethasone will be used as a potential inhibitor of SARS CoV-2.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Current status of COVID-19 vaccination: safety and liability concern for children, pregnant and lactating women.

INTRODUCTION: Since its inception, Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has claimed a significant number of lives around the world. AREA COVERED: COVID-19 vaccine development involves several vaccine platforms, including traditional live-attenuated or killed viral particles, viral vectors or DNA, and mRNA-based vaccines. The efficacy and effectiveness (EV) of these vaccines must be assessed in order to determine the extent to which they can protect us against infection. Despite the fact that some affluent countries attempted to vaccinate the majority of their inhabitants, children and pregnant women were first excluded. EXPERT OPINION: While the severity of COVID-19 is less severe in children, the COVID-19-related complications are more severe.SARS-CoV-2 infection is also dangerous for pregnant women. The key to limiting disease spread is early discovery, isolation, and the development of safe and efficient vaccinations. As a result, the purpose of this study is to highlight the current development of various COVID-19 vaccine platforms for different groups of people at higher risk of COVID-19, with a special focus on children, pregnant and lactating women, as well as structural and pathogenicity elements of SARS CoV-2.

Potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID 19) proteases PLpro and Mpro/ 3CLpro: molecular docking and simulation studies of three pertinent medicinal plant natural components.

The rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) - coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has raised a severe global public health issue and creates a pandemic situation. The present work aims to study the molecular -docking and dynamic of three pertinent medicinal plants i.e. Eurycoma harmandiana, Sophora flavescens and Andrographis paniculata phyto-compounds against SARS-COV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro) and main protease (Mpro)/3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro). The interaction of protein targets and ligands was performed through AutoDock-Vina visualized using PyMOL and BIOVIA-Discovery Studio 2020. Molecular docking with canthin-6-one 9-O-beta-glucopyranoside showed highest binding affinity and less binding energy with both PLpro and Mpro/3CLpro proteases and was subjected to molecular dynamic (MD) simulations for a period of 100ns. Stability of the protein-ligand complexes was evaluated by different analyses. The binding free energy calculated using MM-PBSA and the results showed that the molecule must have stable interactions with the protein binding site. ADMET analysis of the compounds suggested that it is having drug-like properties like high gastrointestinal (GI) absorption, no blood-brain barrier permeability and high lipophilicity. The outcome revealed that canthin-6-one 9-O-beta-glucopyranoside can be used as a potential natural drug against COVID-19 protease.