1. Academic Validation
  2. Identification of potential inhibitors of protein-protein interaction useful to fight against Ebola and other highly pathogenic viruses

Identification of potential inhibitors of protein-protein interaction useful to fight against Ebola and other highly pathogenic viruses

  • Antiviral Res. 2021 Feb:186:105011. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2021.105011.
Fátima Lasala 1 Alfonso García-Rubia 2 Carlos Requena 2 Inmaculada Galindo 3 Miguel Angel Cuesta-Geijo 3 Isabel García-Dorival 3 Paula Bueno 1 Nuria Labiod 1 Joanna Luczkowiak 1 Ana Martinez 2 Nuria E Campillo 2 Covadonga Alonso 3 Rafael Delgado 1 Carmen Gil 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Instituto de Investigación Hospital, 12 de Octubre, 28041, Madrid, Spain.
  • 2 Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (CSIC), Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040, Madrid, Spain.
  • 3 Dpt. Biotechnology, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Ctra. de La Coruña Km 7.5, 28040, Madrid, Spain.
  • 4 Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (CSIC), Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: carmen.gil@csic.es.
Abstract

Despite the efforts to develop new treatments against Ebola virus (EBOV) there is currently no Antiviral drug licensed to treat patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD). Therefore, there is still an urgent need to find new drugs to fight against EBOV. In order to do this, a virtual screening was done on the druggable interaction between the EBOV glycoprotein (GP) and the host receptor NPC1 with a subsequent selection of compounds for further validation. This screening led to the identification of new small organic molecules with potent inhibitory action against EBOV Infection using lentiviral EBOV-GP-pseudotype viruses. Moreover, some of these compounds have shown their ability to interfere with the intracellular Cholesterol transport receptor NPC1 using an ELISA-based assay. These preliminary results pave the way to hit to lead optimization programs that lead to successful candidates.

Keywords

African swine fever virus; Antiviral; Ebola virus; NPC1; Virtual screening.

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