Abstract
The recent outbreak of the highly contagious coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has created a global health crisis with socioeconomic impacts. Although, recently, vaccines have been approved for the prevention of COVID-19, there is still an urgent need for the discovery of more efficacious and safer drugs especially from natural sources. In this study, a number of quinoline and quinazoline alkaloids with antiviral and/or antimalarial activity were virtually screened against three potential targets for the development of drugs against COVID-19. Among seventy-one tested compounds, twenty-three were selected for molecular docking based on their pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles. The results identified a number of potential inhibitors. Three of them, namely, norquinadoline A, deoxytryptoquivaline, and deoxynortryptoquivaline, showed strong binding to the three targets, SARS-CoV-2 main protease, spike glycoprotein, and human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. These alkaloids therefore have promise for being further investigated as possible multitarget drugs against COVID-19.
Highlights
In December 2019, a global health concern had been raised by the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which is caused by SARS-CoV-2
SARS-CoV-2 shares the mode of transmission with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, after which it binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the surface of host cells via the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in its spike proteins [7, 8]
Literature was surveyed for various phytochemicals with known antiviral and/or antimalarial activities. 71 bioactive alkaloids from different natural sources were selected to be investigated for their activity against COVID-19 virus [17, 18]
Summary
In December 2019, a global health concern had been raised by the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which is caused by SARS-CoV-2. It belongs to the singlestranded positive-sense RNA coronavirus family [1]. Its high sequence conservation with SARS-CoV main protease suggests the effectiveness of HIV-1 protease inhibitors such as nelfinavir against it [6]. SARS-CoV-2 shares the mode of transmission with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, after which it binds to ACE2 on the surface of host cells via the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in its spike proteins [7, 8]. Blocking the ACE2 and RBD interaction by antibodies and inhibitors would be an effective way to stop the virus infection [9]
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