Anti-SARS and anti-HCV drugs repurposing against the Papain-like protease of the newly emerged coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

Abstract

Abstract A new mysterious coronavirus outbreak started last month in China. The World Health Organization (WHO) termed the new virus strain 2019-nCoV to be the seventh reported human coronaviruses (HCoV). A seafood market in Wuhan city, central China was the starting point of the emergence with unknown animal causes the first animal to human infection. Until today 904 confirmed deaths and more than 40000 cases confirmed in China and 28 countries. There is a massive fear of the human to human transmission of 2019-nCoV that reported last week by the Chinese government. The most famous two strains of HCoV are the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS CoV). The former had emerged in China in 2002 while the latter emerged in the Middle East region in 2012 and south Korea in 2015. In this study, the newly emerged 2019-nCoV papain-like protease (PLpro) is targeted by anti-SARS PLpro drugs and the anti-Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Non-structural protein 3 (NS3) serine protease drugs. Sequence analysis, modeling, and docking are used to get a valid model for 2019-nCoV PLpro. The results suggest the effectiveness of the anti-SARS drugs (GRL-0667, GRL-0617, and Mycophenolic acid) and the anti-HCV drugs (Grazoprevir, Telaprevir, and Boceprevir) as potent inhibitors against the newly emerged coronavirus.