Screening for Anti-Dengue Leads from Euphorbia hirta L. through In Silico Methods
K. B. Charuvil, S. Sivanandan, Radha Kesavan Lekshmi · Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences · 2022
Dengue is a vector-borne viral disease caused by Flavivirus. Current treatment and medicine are inadequate to eradicate the vector mosquitoes or to prevent the disease. Traditional healers have remedies for almost all ailments using natural products and plants. The well-known medicinal plant Euphorbia hirta L. is one of the herbs conventionally used for anti-dengue treatment even if the active compound responsible for the exact activity of the plant against the disease is not known. The plant is a rich source of various secondary metabolites. In silico screening of 76 small molecules of drug-value belongs to alkaloids, polyphenols and terpenes derived from the plant against dengue virus non-structural protein-5 protease and human inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase-II determined 16 biologically active compounds with possible activity to fight against dengue virus. Based on the therapeutic importance and drug-likeness parameters, the two best leads, 2-beta, 16-alpha, 19-trihydroxy-ent-kaurane and kaempferol were selected as promising candidates for developing anti-dengue drugs.