Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Chemistry Division, Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 4 Drug and Herbal Research Centre, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 5 Faculty of Pharmacy, Sanata Dharma University, Campus III, 55284 Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  • 6 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Kulliyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, 25200 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
  • 7 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Trop Biomed, 2021 Jun 01;38(2):79-84.
PMID: 33973577 DOI: 10.47665/tb.38.2.044

Abstract

The NS2B/NS3 protease is crucial for the pathogenesis of the DENV. Therefore, the inhibition of this protease is considered to be the key strategy for the development of new antiviral drugs. In the present study, malabaricones C (3) and E (4), acylphenols from the fruits of Myristica cinnamomea King, have been respectively identified as moderate (27.33 ± 5.45 μM) and potent (7.55 ± 1.64 μM) DENV-2 NS2B/NS3 protease inhibitors, thus making this the first report on the DENV-2 NS2B/NS3 protease inhibitory activity of acylphenols. Based on the molecular docking studies, compounds 3 and 4 both have π-π interactions with Tyr161. While compound 3 has hydrogen bonding interactions with Gly151, Gly153 and Tyr161, compound 4 however, forms hydrogen bonds with Ser135, Asp129, Phe130 and Ile86 instead. The results from the present study suggests that malabaricones C (3) and E (4) could be employed as lead compounds for the development of new dengue antivirals from natural origin.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.