Virtual screening of curcumin and its analogs against the spike surface glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV
Ashish Patel, M. Moses Antony RAJENDRAN, Ashish Shah, Harnisha Patel, Suresh B. Pakala, Prashanthi Karyala
Abstract
is known to have broad pharmacological properties. In the present study, curcumin and its derivatives were docked, using Autodock 4.2, onto the 6CRV and 6M0J to study their capability to act as inhibitors of the spike protein and thereby, viral entry. The curcumin and its derivatives displayed binding energies, ΔG, ranging from -10.98 to -5.12 kcal/mol (6CRV) and -10.01 to -5.33 kcal/mol (6M0J). The least binding energy was seen in bis-demethoxycurcumin with: ΔG = -10.98 kcal/mol (6CRV) and -10.01 kcal/mol (6M0J). A good binding energy, drug likeness and efficient pharmacokinetic parameters suggest the potential of curcumin and few of its derivatives as SARS-CoV-2 spike protein inhibitors. However, further research is necessary to investigate the ability of these compounds as viral entry inhibitors.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.