Computational drug discovery for the Zika virus

Authors

  • Melina Mottin Federal University of Goiás. Faculty of Pharmacy. Laboratory for Molecular Modeling and Drug Design - LabMol
  • Joyce Villa Verde Bastos Borba Federal University of Goiás. Faculty of Pharmacy. Laboratory for Molecular Modeling and Drug Design - LabMol
  • Cleber Camilo Melo-Filho Federal University of Goiás. Faculty of Pharmacy. Laboratory for Molecular Modeling and Drug Design - LabMol
  • Bruno Junior Neves Federal University of Goiás. Faculty of Pharmacy. Laboratory for Molecular Modeling and Drug Design - LabMol
  • Eugene Muratov University of North Carolina. Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry. Laboratory for Molecular Modeling
  • Pedro Henrique Monteiro Torres Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
  • Rodolpho Campos Braga Federal University of Goiás. Faculty of Pharmacy. Laboratory for Molecular Modeling and Drug Design - LabMol
  • Alexander Perryman Rutgers University–New Jersey Medical School. Physiology and Neuroscience. Department of Pharmacology
  • Sean Ekins Collaborations Pharmaceuticals
  • Carolina Horta Andrade Federal University of Goiás. Faculty of Pharmacy. Laboratory for Molecular Modeling and Drug Design - LabMol

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/s2175-97902018000001002

Keywords:

Zika, Flavivirus, Antiviral, Computer-assisted drug design, Virtual screening, Drug discovery

Abstract

Few Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks had been reported since its first detection in 1947, until the recent epidemics occurred in South America (2014/2015) and expeditiously became a global public health emergency. This arbovirus reached 0.5-1.3 million cases of ZIKV infection in Brazil in 2015 and rapidly spread in new geographic areas such as the Americas. Despite the mild symptoms of the Zika fever, the major concern is related to the related severe neurological disorders, especially microcephaly in newborns. Advances in ZIKV drug discovery have been made recently and constitute promising approaches to ZIKV treatment. In this review, we summarize current computational drug discovery efforts and their applicability to discovery of anti-ZIKV drugs. Lastly, we present successful examples of the use of computational approaches to ZIKV drug discovery.

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Published

2018-12-28

Issue

Section

Review

How to Cite

Computational drug discovery for the Zika virus. (2018). Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 54(Especial), e01002. https://doi.org/10.1590/s2175-97902018000001002