Design of novel pyrimidine based remdesivir analogues with dual target specificity for SARS CoV-2: A computational approach.

As the world undergone unpreceded time of tragedy with the corona virus, many researchers have raised to showcase their scientific contributions in terms of novel configured anti-viral drugs until now. Herein, we designed pyrimidine based nucleotides and assessed for the binding capability with SARS-CoV-2 viral replication targets of nsp12 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and Mpro main protease. Molecular docking studies showed all the designed compounds to possess good binding affinity, with a few compounds which outperforms the control drug remdesivir GS-5743 and its active form GS-441524. Further molecular dynamics simulation studies confirmed their stability and preservation of the non-covalent interactions. Based on the present findings Ligand2-BzV_0Tyr, ligand3-BzV_0Ura, and ligand5-EeV_0Tyr showed good binding affinity with Mpro, whereas, ligand1-BzV_0Cys and Ligand2-BzV_0Tyr showed good binding affinity with RdRp, thus could act as potential lead compounds against SARS-CoV-2, which needs further validation studies. In particular, Ligand2-BzV_0Tyr could be more beneficial candidate with the dual target specificity for Mpro and RdRp.

Cancer prevention and therapy through the modulation of transcription factors by bioactive natural compounds.

The association between chronic inflammation and cancer development has been well documented. One of the major obstacles in cancer treatment is the persistent autocrine and paracrine activation of pro-inflammatory transcription factors such as nuclear factor-κB, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, activator protein 1, fork head box protein M1, and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α in a wide variety of tumor cell lines and patient specimens. This, in turn, leads to an accelerated production of cellular adhesion molecules, inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, anti-apoptotic molecules, and inducible nitric oxide synthase. Numerous medicinal plant-derived compounds have made a tremendous impact in drug discovery research endeavors, and have been reported to modulate the activation of diverse oncogenic transcription factors in various tumor models. Moreover, novel therapeutic combinations of standard chemotherapeutic drugs with these agents have significantly improved patient survival by making cancer cells more susceptible to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In this review, we critically analyze the existing literature on the modulation of diverse transcription factors by various natural compounds and provide views on new directions for accelerating the discovery of novel drug candidates derived from Mother Nature.