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Analysis of therapeutic targets for COVID 19-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2 and discovery by virtual screening methods

  • CELLMED
  • Abbr : CellMed
  • 2020, 10(2), pp.14-14
  • DOI : 10.5667/CellMed.2020.0014
  • Publisher : Cellmed Orthocellular Medicine and Pharmaceutical Association
  • Research Area : Medicine and Pharmacy > General Medicine
  • Received : March 29, 2020
  • Accepted : April 20, 2020
  • Published : May 29, 2020

Sushil Kumar Sharma 1 Ajay Kumar Mishra 2

1Department of Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences
2MLN Hospital

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이 논문은 셀메드세포교정의약학회 윤리위원회(2020.06.15.) 결과 연구부정행위(표절)가 확인되어 게재가 철회된 논문임

ABSTRACT

Experimental drug development is very time consuming, expensive and limited to a relatively small number of targets. However, recent studies show that repositioning of existing drugs can function more efficiently then the novo experimental drug development to minimize cost and risks. Few previous studies have proven that network analysis is a versatile platform for this purpose, as the biological networks are used to model interactions between many different biological concepts. The present study is an attempt to review network based methods in predicting drug targets for drug repositioning. Human coronaviruses (HCoVs), including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, also known as SARS-CoV-2), lead global epidemics with high morbidity and mortality. However, there are currently no effective drugs targeting 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2. Drug repurposing, representing as an effective drug discovery strategy from existing drugs, could shorten the time and reduce the cost compared to de novo drug discovery. In this study, we present an integrative, antiviral drug repurposing methodology implementing a systems pharmacology-based network medicine platform, quantifying the interplay between the HCoV–host interactome and drug targets in the human protein–protein interaction network. Phylogenetic analyses of 15 HCoV whole genomes reveal that 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2 shares the highest nucleotide sequence identity with SARS-CoV (79.7%). Specifically, the envelope and nucleocapsid proteins of 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2 are two evolutionarily conserved regions, having the sequence identities of 96% and 89.6%, respectively, compared to SARS-CoV. Using network proximity analyses of drug targets and HCoV–host interactions in the human interactome, we prioritize 16 potential anti-HCoV repurposable drugs (e.g., melatonin, mercaptopurine, and sirolimus) that are further validated by enrichment analyses of drug-gene signatures and HCoV-induced transcriptomics data in human cell lines. We further identify three potential drug combinations (e.g., sirolimus plus dactinomycin, mercaptopurine plus melatonin, and toremifene plus emodin) captured by the “Complementary Exposure” pattern: the targets of the drugs both hit the HCoV–host subnetwork, but target separate neighborhoods in the human interactome network. In summary, this study offers powerful network-based methodologies for rapid identification of candidate repurposable drugs and potential drug combinations targeting 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2

Citation status

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