Diphenyl Diselenide and SARS-CoV-2: in silico Exploration of the Mechanisms of Inhibition of Main Protease (Mpro) and Papain-like Protease (PLpro).
J Chem Inf Model
; 63(7): 2226-2239, 2023 04 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2274915
ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has prompted global efforts to develop therapeutics. The main protease of SARS-CoV-2 (Mpro) and the papain-like protease (PLpro) are essential for viral replication and are key targets for therapeutic development. In this work, we investigate the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 inhibition by diphenyl diselenide (PhSe)2 which is an archetypal model of diselenides and a renowned potential therapeutic agent. The in vitro inhibitory concentration of (PhSe)2 against SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 cells falls in the low micromolar range. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations [level of theory SMD-B3LYP-D3(BJ)/6-311G(d,p), cc-pVTZ] are used to inspect non-covalent inhibition modes of both proteases via π-stacking and the mechanism of covalent (PhSe)2 + Mpro product formation involving the catalytic residue C145, respectively. The in vitro CC50 (24.61 µM) and EC50 (2.39 µM) data indicate that (PhSe)2 is a good inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 virus replication in a cell culture model. The in silico findings indicate potential mechanisms of proteases' inhibition by (PhSe)2; in particular, the results of the covalent inhibition here discussed for Mpro, whose thermodynamics is approximatively isoergonic, prompt further investigation in the design of antiviral organodiselenides.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Chem Inf Model
Journal subject:
Medical Informatics
/
Chemistry
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Acs.jcim.3c00168
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