Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is extremely virulent with an estimated mortality rate of up to 90%. However, the state-of-the-art treatment for EVD is limited to quarantine and supportive care. The 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the largest in history, is believed to have caused more than 11,000 fat...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-11-01
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| Series: | Molecules |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/21/12/1537 |
| _version_ | 1818133866343301120 |
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| author | Gaurav Chopra Sashank Kaushik Peter L. Elkin Ram Samudrala |
| author_facet | Gaurav Chopra Sashank Kaushik Peter L. Elkin Ram Samudrala |
| author_sort | Gaurav Chopra |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ebola virus disease (EVD) is extremely virulent with an estimated mortality rate of up to 90%. However, the state-of-the-art treatment for EVD is limited to quarantine and supportive care. The 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the largest in history, is believed to have caused more than 11,000 fatalities. The countries worst affected are also among the poorest in the world. Given the complexities, time, and resources required for a novel drug development, finding efficient drug discovery pathways is going to be crucial in the fight against future outbreaks. We have developed a Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform based on the hypothesis that drugs function by interacting with multiple protein targets to create a molecular interaction signature that can be exploited for rapid therapeutic repurposing and discovery. We used the CANDO platform to identify and rank FDA-approved drug candidates that bind and inhibit all proteins encoded by the genomes of five different Ebola virus strains. Top ranking drug candidates for EVD treatment generated by CANDO were compared to in vitro screening studies against Ebola virus-like particles (VLPs) by Kouznetsova et al. and genetically engineered Ebola virus and cell viability studies by Johansen et al. to identify drug overlaps between the in virtuale and in vitro studies as putative treatments for future EVD outbreaks. Our results indicate that integrating computational docking predictions on a proteomic scale with results from in vitro screening studies may be used to select and prioritize compounds for further in vivo and clinical testing. This approach will significantly reduce the lead time, risk, cost, and resources required to determine efficacious therapies against future EVD outbreaks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T08:59:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3bfb3cc8f68b4989a456ec333d703142 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1420-3049 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T08:59:32Z |
| publishDate | 2016-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecules |
| spelling | doaj.art-3bfb3cc8f68b4989a456ec333d7031422022-12-22T01:13:47ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492016-11-012112153710.3390/molecules21121537molecules21121537Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO PlatformGaurav Chopra0Sashank Kaushik1Peter L. Elkin2Ram Samudrala3Department of Chemistry; Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery; Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology, and Infectious Disease; Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience; Purdue Center for Cancer Research, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USADepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14203, USADepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14203, USADepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14203, USAEbola virus disease (EVD) is extremely virulent with an estimated mortality rate of up to 90%. However, the state-of-the-art treatment for EVD is limited to quarantine and supportive care. The 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the largest in history, is believed to have caused more than 11,000 fatalities. The countries worst affected are also among the poorest in the world. Given the complexities, time, and resources required for a novel drug development, finding efficient drug discovery pathways is going to be crucial in the fight against future outbreaks. We have developed a Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform based on the hypothesis that drugs function by interacting with multiple protein targets to create a molecular interaction signature that can be exploited for rapid therapeutic repurposing and discovery. We used the CANDO platform to identify and rank FDA-approved drug candidates that bind and inhibit all proteins encoded by the genomes of five different Ebola virus strains. Top ranking drug candidates for EVD treatment generated by CANDO were compared to in vitro screening studies against Ebola virus-like particles (VLPs) by Kouznetsova et al. and genetically engineered Ebola virus and cell viability studies by Johansen et al. to identify drug overlaps between the in virtuale and in vitro studies as putative treatments for future EVD outbreaks. Our results indicate that integrating computational docking predictions on a proteomic scale with results from in vitro screening studies may be used to select and prioritize compounds for further in vivo and clinical testing. This approach will significantly reduce the lead time, risk, cost, and resources required to determine efficacious therapies against future EVD outbreaks.http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/21/12/1537drug repurposing and discoverymultitarget dockingcompound–proteome interactioncandock |
| spellingShingle | Gaurav Chopra Sashank Kaushik Peter L. Elkin Ram Samudrala Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform Molecules drug repurposing and discovery multitarget docking compound–proteome interaction candock |
| title | Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform |
| title_full | Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform |
| title_fullStr | Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform |
| title_full_unstemmed | Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform |
| title_short | Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform |
| title_sort | combating ebola with repurposed therapeutics using the cando platform |
| topic | drug repurposing and discovery multitarget docking compound–proteome interaction candock |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/21/12/1537 |
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