Open AccessAnti-malarial Drugs are Not Created Equal for SARS-CoV-2 Treatment: A Computational Analysis Evidence
Author(s) -
Simone Ronsisvalle,
Federica Panarello,
Rosaria Di Mauro,
Renato Bernardini,
Giovanni Li Volti,
Giuseppina Cantarella
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
current pharmaceutical design
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1873-4286
pISSN - 1381-6128
DOI - 10.2174/1381612826666201210092736
Subject(s) - hydroxychloroquine , lopinavir , darunavir , chloroquine , ritonavir , virology , pharmacology , nitazoxanide , in silico , medicine , protease , covid-19 , biology , malaria , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , immunology , viral load , enzyme , antiretroviral therapy , biochemistry , infectious disease (medical specialty) , gene , disease
Background: The evolution of the pandemic has burdened the national healthcare systems worldwideand at present, there is no preferred antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Recently, the SARS-Cov-2 proteasestructure was released that may be exploited in in-silico studies in order to conduct molecular docking analysis. Methods: In particular, we compared the binding of twoantimalarial drugs, already in use, (i.e. chloroquine andhydroxychloroquine), which showed some potential clinical effects on COVID-19 patients, using ritonavir, lopinavirand darunavir as positive control tree antiviral recognized compounds. Results: Our results showed that hydroxychloroquine but not chloroquine exhibited a significant binding activityto the main protease similar to that possessed by protease inhibitors tested for other viral infections. Conclusion: Our data suggest that hydroxychloroquine may exert additional direct antiviral activity comparedto chloroquine. In the absence of clinical studies comparing the efficacy of these two compounds, hydroxychloroquinemay offer additional effects and may be considered as the first choice.