Comparative Docking Studies on Curcumin with COVID-19 Proteins

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a respiratory syndrome caused by positive RNA virus resulting in outbreak of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The SARS-CoV-2 genome and its association to SAR-CoV-1 vary from ca. 66% to 96% depending on the type of betacoronavirdeae family members. With several drugs, viz. chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, quinidine, artemisinin, remdesivir, azithromycin considered for clinical trials, there has been an inherent need to find distinctive antiviral mechanisms of these drugs. On the other hand, curcumin, a natural bioactive molecule has been shown to have a therapeutic potential for various diseases, but no role of it in COVID-19 has been explored. In this work, we show the binding potential of curcumin targeted to a host of SARS-CoV-2 proteins, viz. spike glycoproteins (PDB ID: 6VYB), nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (PDB ID: 6VYO), membrane glycoprotein (PDB ID: 6M17) along with nsp10 (PDB ID: 6W4H) and RNA dependent RNA polymerase (PDB ID: 6M71) structures. Our results indicate that curcumin has potential antiviral protein binding affinity towards SARS-CoV-2 proteins which is comparable with other repurposed drugs that are considered for clinical trials.

Inhibition Potencies of Phytochemicals Derived from Sesame Against SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease: A Molecular Docking and Simulation Study

“…In previous studies, the potential of herb-derived natural compounds have been explored to inhibit the M pro of COVID-19 using integrated bioinformatics and molecular modeling approaches (Kumar et al, 2020;Suravajhala et al, 2020;Gunda et al, 2021;Mishra et al, 2021). Three natural metabolites, namely, ursolic acid, carvacrol, and oleanolic acid have been reported as the potential inhibitors of M pro of COVID-19.…”

The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicines in the Treatment and Management of COVID-19

“…Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound isolated from turmeric, which is a commonly used food colorant and spice [62], can augment the antibody reaction even if it is consumed at reduced doses [63]. Additionally, literature shows that curcumin has a promising affinity for protein binding towards SARS-CoV-2 and thus directly inhibit the invasion of SARS-CoV-2 into target cells [64]. The ability of curcumin in improving various disease conditions is attributed partially to its capability to modulate the immune responses [63].…”

The Role of Herbal and Nutritional Treatments in the Fight against COVID-19 and Other Respiratory Tract Infections

“…The structure RNA of COVID-19 was determined to have a groove between the palm and finger regions at the RNA binding site, with curcumin showing a binding affinity to this region. It also might inhibit the nucleocapsid and suppress components of cellular signaling pathways that aid in infected cells growth by inhibiting protein kinases and activating enzyme cyclooxygenase [55]. The antiviral properties of curcumin stem from their ability to act in cellular signaling pathways (apoptosis and inflammation) and interfere in the viral replication cycle (genome replication and viral attachment) [56].…”