Superiority of cilostazol among antiplatelet FDA-approved drugs against COVID 19 M pro and spike protein: Drug repurposing approach

• Published in: Drug development research 2021-04, Vol.82 (2), p.217-229
• Main Authors: Abosheasha, Mohammed A, El-Gowily, Afnan H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cilostazol - metabolism; Cilostazol - therapeutic use; Coronavirus 3C Proteases - metabolism; COVID-19 - drug therapy; Drug Approval; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Drug Repositioning; Eicosapentaenoic Acid - analogs & derivatives; Eicosapentaenoic Acid - metabolism; Eicosapentaenoic Acid - therapeutic use; Epoprostenol - metabolism; Epoprostenol - therapeutic use; Humans; Iloprost - metabolism; Iloprost - therapeutic use; Molecular Docking Simulation; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors - metabolism; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Prasugrel Hydrochloride - metabolism; Prasugrel Hydrochloride - therapeutic use; SARS-CoV-2 - metabolism; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - metabolism; United States; United States Food and Drug Administration
• ISSN: 0272-4391; 1098-2299
• DOI: 10.1002/ddr.21743

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) was first identified in Wuhan, China near the end of 2019. To date, COVID-19 had spread to almost 235 countries and territories due to its highly infectious nature. Moreover, there is no vaccine or Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug. More time is needed to establish one of them. Consequently, the drug repurposing approach seems to be the most attractive and quick solution to accommodate this crisis. In this regard, we performed molecular docking-based virtual screening of antiplatelet FDA-approved drugs on the key two viral target proteins: main protease (M ) and spike glycoprotein (S) as potential inhibitor candidates for COVID-19. In the present study, 15 antiplatelet FDA-approved drugs were investigated against the concerned targets using the Molecular Docking Server. Our study revealed that only cilostazol has the most favorable binding interaction on M (PDB ID: 6LU7) and cilostazol, iloprost, epoprostenol, prasugrel, and icosapent ethyl have a higher binding affinity on spike glycoprotein (S) (PDB ID: 6VYB) compared with recent anti-CoVID-19. Therefore, cilostazol is a promising FDA drug against COVID-19 by inhibiting both M and S protein. The insights gained in this study may be useful for quick approach against COVID-19 in the future.