Quantitative structure-activity relationship and molecular docking revealed a potency of anti-hepatitis C virus drugs against human corona viruses

Abstract

A number of human coronaviruses (HCoVs) were reported in the last and present centuries. Some outbreaks of which (eg, SARS and MERS CoVs) caused the mortality of hundreds of people worldwide. The problem of finding a potent drug against HCoV strains lies in the inability of finding a drug that stops the viral replication through inhibiting its important proteins. In spite of its limited efficacy and potential side effects, Ribavirin is extensively used as a first choice against HCoVs. Therefore, scientists reverted towards the investigation of different drugs that can more specifically target proteins. In this study, four anti-HCV drugs (one approved by FDA and others under clinical trials) are tested against HCoV polymerases. Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) and molecular docking are both used to compare the performance of the selected nucleotide inhibitors to their parent nucleotides and Ribavirin. Both QSAR and molecular docking showed that IDX-184 is superior compared to Ribavirin against MERS CoV, a result that was also reported for HCV. MK-0608 showed a performance that is comparable to Ribavirin. We strongly suggest an in vitro study on the potency of these two drugs against MERS CoV.