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Title

Metal-Bound Methisazone; Novel Drugs Targeting Prophylaxis and Treatment of SARS-CoV-2, a Molecular Docking Study.

Authors

Abdelaal Ahmed Mahmoud M. Alkhatip, Ahmed; Georgakis, Michail; Montero Valenzuela, Lucio R.; Hamza, Mohamed; Farag, Ehab; Hodgkinson, Jaqui; Hosny, Hisham; Kamal, Ahmed M.; Wagih, Mohamed; Naguib, Amr; Yassin, Hany; Algameel, Haytham; Elayashy, Mohamed; Abdelhaq, Mohamed; Younis, Mohamed I.; Mohamed, Hassan; Abdulshafi, Mohammed; Elramely, Mohamed A.; Ma, Edmond

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 currently lacks effective first-line drug treatment. We present promising data from in silico docking studies of new Methisazone compounds (modified with calcium, Ca; iron, Fe; magnesium, Mg; manganese, Mn; or zinc, Zn) designed to bind more strongly to key proteins involved in replication of SARS-CoV-2. In this in silico molecular docking study, we investigated the inhibiting role of Methisazone and the modified drugs against SARS-CoV-2 proteins: ribonucleic acid (RNA)-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), spike protein, papain-like protease (PlPr), and main protease (MPro). We found that the highest binding interactions were found with the spike protein (6VYB), with the highest overall binding being observed with Mn-bound Methisazone at −8.3 kcal/mol, followed by Zn and Ca at −8.0 kcal/mol, and Fe and Mg at −7.9 kcal/mol. We also found that the metal-modified Methisazone had higher affinity for PlPr and MPro. In addition, we identified multiple binding pockets that could be singly or multiply occupied on all proteins tested. The best binding energy was with Mn–Methisazone versus spike protein, and the largest cumulative increases in binding energies were found with PlPr. We suggest that further studies are warranted to identify whether these compounds may be effective for treatment and/or prophylaxis.

Subjects

SARS-CoV-2; MOLECULAR docking; RNA; BINDING energy; PREVENTIVE medicine; MANGANESE; RNA polymerases

Publication

International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2021, Vol 22, Issue 6, p2977

ISSN

1661-6596

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.3390/ijms22062977

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