Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, has spread rapidly over the world with no known antiviral therapy or vaccine. Interestingly, traditional Chinese medicine helped in flattening the pandemic curve in China. In this study, molecules from African medicinal plants were analysed as potential candidates against multiple SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic targets. Sixty-five molecules from the ZINC database subset (AfroDb Natural Products) were virtually screened with some reported repurposed therapeutics against six SARS-CoV-2 and two human targets. Molecular docking, druglikeness, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) of the best hits were further simulated. Of the 65 compounds, only three, namely, 3-galloylcatechin, proanthocyanidin B1, and luteolin 7-galactoside found in almond (Terminalia catappa), grape (Vitis vinifera), and common verbena (Verbena officinalis), were able to bind to all eight targets better than the reported repurposed drugs. The findings suggest these molecules may play a role as therapeutic leads in tackling this pandemic due to their multitarget activity.
Highlights
Coronaviruses (CoVs) are members of Coronaviridae family belonging to the order Nidovirales. ey are enveloped viruses of about 60 to 140 nm in diameter with positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome (+ssRNA) classified into four genera, namely, alpha (α), beta (β), gamma (c), and delta (δ) [1]. ese viruses have spikes protruding from their surface, giving them a crown-like structure, which makes them bind to the human lower respiratory system [2]
In 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was identified in Guangdong, China, with SARS-CoV as the causative pathogen, while the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) caused by MERS-CoV resurfaced a decade later in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [4]. ese zoonotic pathogens belong to the β-CoV genus, with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as prominent symptoms [5]
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda system of medicine have been attributed to play a part in the flattening of the pandemic curve in China with about 60,000 people treated with TCM [13, 14]. eoretically, the secondary active metabolites in these natural products may have been responsible for the attributed success of TCM against COVID-19 in China
Summary
Coronaviruses (CoVs) are members of Coronaviridae family belonging to the order Nidovirales. ey are enveloped viruses of about 60 to 140 nm in diameter with positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome (+ssRNA) classified into four genera, namely, alpha (α), beta (β), gamma (c), and delta (δ) [1]. ese viruses have spikes protruding from their surface, giving them a crown-like structure (the name corona), which makes them bind to the human lower respiratory system [2]. In Wuhan, China, a novel pandemic initially known as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was reported in December 2019 It was later called coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 February 2020 [6]. Numerous computational screening analyses have been carried out to screen and identify drug candidates with therapeutic and prophylactic potential against various proteins of SARS-CoV-2 from the ZINC database [16,17,18,19,20]. This study analysed a plethora of natural products (NPs) from African medicinal plants with known bioactivities in human as therapeutic candidates targeting and inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 RNA synthesis, replication, structural protein function, and host-specific receptors/enzymes
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