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the effectiveness of the inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro enzyme function. As the enzyme SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, is key for processing and polyprotein for virus assembly, the inhibition of this key protein can have an antiviral effect. As most of DrugBank database compounds are characterised in terms of pharmacokinetics and toxicity, the identified molecule could be brought to the market rapidly.
Contact info:
vkdubey.bce@iitbhu.ac.in
National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE) to develop host-
directed antivirals for COVID-19 patients
The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has approved support for a study by the ICAR-NRCE from Hisar in Haryana, which will screen their library of 89 small molecule chemical inhibitors for antivirals against coronaviruses.
Classically, antiviral drugs are developed by directly targeting viral proteins. However, this approach has been unsuccessful due to rapid generation of drug resistant escape variants. Being intracellular parasites, viruses are highly dependent on cellular factors. Therefore, the cellular factors that are dispensable for the host but are essential for virus replication can be targeted for antiviral drug development. They collected 89 small molecule chemical inhibitors that are known to target cellular kinases, phosphatases and epigenetic modifiers. This library of chemicals has been screened to identify potential candidates with antiviral activity against the family members of Poxviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Herpesviridae and Arenaviridae.
This study aims to screen the entire library of small molecule chemical inhibitors for their antiviral action against coronavirus-infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). The selected candidates with antiviral activity against IBV will be subjected to study their molecular mechanism of action, besides examining generation of potential drug resistant virus variants. Targeting host factors could have a significant impact on multiple virus genotypes and provide broad spectrum inhibition against different families of viruses, which might use the same cellular pathway(s) for replication. Therefore, the drug candidates active against IBV may be repurposed for antiviral drug development against COVID-19.
Contact info:
naveenkumar.icar@gmail.com
VOL. IV ISSUE 10
VIGYAN PRASAR 15
COVID-19 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EFFORTS IN INDIA