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Withanone and caffeic acid phenethyl ester are predicted to interact with main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibit its activity.

ABSTRACT: The recent novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2/2019-nCoV) has caused a large number of deaths around the globe. There is an urgent need to understand this new virus and develop prophylactic and therapeutic drugs. Since drug development is an expensive, intense and time-consuming path, timely repurposing of the existing drugs is often explored wherein the research avenues including genomics, bioinformatics, molecular modeling approaches offer valuable strengths. Here, we have examined the binding potential of Withaferin-A (Wi-A), Withanone (Wi-N) (active withanolides of Ashwagandha) and Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE, bioactive ingredient of propolis) to a highly conserved protein, Mpro of SARS-CoV-2. We found that Wi-N and CAPE, but not Wi-A, bind to the substrate-binding pocket of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro with efficacy and binding energies equivalent to an already claimed N3 protease inhibitor. Similar to N3 inhibitor, Wi-N and CAPE were interacting with the highly conserved residues of the proteases of coronaviruses. The binding stability of these molecules was further analyzed using molecular dynamics simulations. The binding free energies calculated using MM/GBSA for N3 inhibitor, CAPE and Wi-N were also comparable. Data presented here predicted that these natural compounds may possess the potential to inhibit the functional activity of SARS-CoV-2 protease (an essential protein for virus survival), and hence (i) may connect to save time and cost required for designing/development, and initial screening for anti-COVID drugs, (ii) may offer some therapeutic value for the management of novel fatal coronavirus disease, (iii) warrants prioritized further validation in the laboratory and clinical tests.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

SUBMITTER: Kumar V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7284143 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Withanone and caffeic acid phenethyl ester are predicted to interact with main protease (M<sup>pro</sup>) of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibit its activity.

Kumar Vipul V Dhanjal Jaspreet Kaur JK Kaul Sunil C SC Wadhwa Renu R Sundar Durai D

Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics 20200601 11

The recent novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2/2019-nCoV) has caused a large number of deaths around the globe. There is an urgent need to understand this new virus and develop prophylactic and therapeutic drugs. Since drug development is an expensive, intense and time-consuming path, timely repurposing of the existing drugs is often explored wherein the research avenues including genomics, bioinformatics, molecular modeling approaches offer valuable st ...[more]

PMID: 32431217

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Project description:Melanoma is highly metastatic and resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. Our previous studies have demonstrated that caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) suppresses the growth of melanoma cells and induces reactive oxygen species generation. However, the exact mechanism of the growth suppressive effects of CAPE was not clear. Here, we determined the potential mechanism of CAPE against melanoma in vivo and in vitro. Administration of 10 mg/kg/day CAPE substantially suppressed the growth of B16F0 tumor xenografts in C57BL/6 mice. Tumors from CAPE-treated mice showed reduced phosphorylation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase, AKT, mammalian target of rapamycin and protein level of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) and enhanced the cleavage of caspase-3 and poly (ADP ribose) polymerase. In order to confirm the in vivo observations, melanoma cells were treated with CAPE. CAPE treatment suppressed the activating phosphorylation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase at Tyr 458, phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 at Ser 241, mammalian target of rapamycin at Ser 2448 and AKT at Ser 473 in B16F0 and SK-MEL-28 cells in a concentration and time-dependent study. Furthermore, the expression of XIAP, survivin and BCL-2 was downregulated by CAPE treatment in both cell lines. Significant apoptosis was observed by CAPE treatment as indicated by cleavage of caspase-3 and poly (ADP ribose) polymerase. AKT kinase activity was inhibited by CAPE in a concentration-dependent manner. CAPE treatment increased the nuclear translocation of XIAP, indicating increased apoptosis in melanoma cells. To confirm the involvement of reactive oxygen species in the inhibition of AKT/XIAP pathway, cells were treated with antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) prior to CAPE treatment. Our results indicate that NAC blocked CAPE-mediated AKT/XIAP inhibition and protected the cells from apoptosis. Because AKT regulates XIAP, their interaction was examined by immunoprecipitation studies. Our results show that CAPE treatment decreased the interaction of AKT with XIAP. To establish the involvement of AKT in the apoptosis-inducing effects of CAPE, cells were transfected with AKT. Our results revealed that AKT overexpression attenuated the decrease in XIAP and significantly blocked CAPE-mediated apoptosis. Similarly, overexpression of XIAP further decreased CAPE-induced apoptosis. Taken together, our results suggest that CAPE suppresses phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT/XIAP pathway leading to apoptosis in melanoma tumor cells in vitro and in vivo.

Dataset Information

Withanone and caffeic acid phenethyl ester are predicted to interact with main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibit its activity.

Publications

Withanone and caffeic acid phenethyl ester are predicted to interact with main protease (M<sup>pro</sup>) of SARS-CoV-2 and inhibit its activity.

Similar Datasets

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