Design and in silico investigation of novel Maraviroc analogues as dual inhibition of CCR-5/SARS-CoV-2 Mpro

Abstract

A sudden increase in life-threatening COVID-19 infections around the world inflicts global crisis and emotional trauma. In current study two druggable targets, namely SARS-COV-2 M^pro and CCR-5 were selected due to their significant nature in the viral life cycle and cytokine molecular storm respectively. The systematic drug repurposing strategy has been utilized to recognize inhibitory mechanism through extensive in silico investigation of novel Maraviroc analogues as promising inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 M^pro and CCR-5. The dual inhibition specificity approach implemented in present study using molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD), principal component analysis (PCA), free energy landscape (FEL) and MM/PBSA binding energy studies. The proposed Maraviroc analogues obtained from in silico investigation could be easily synthesized and constructive in developing significant drug against COVID-19 pandemic, with essentiality of their in vivo/in vitro evaluation to affirm the conclusions of this study. This will further fortify the concept of single drug targeting dual inhibition mechanism for treatment of COVID-19 infection and complications.

Keywords: CCR-5 antagonist; COVID-19; Maraviroc; SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitor; anti HIV; molecular docking; molecular dynamics (MD) simulation.