Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Dec 26;10(1):41.
doi: 10.3390/plants10010041.

Sterols and Triterpenes: Antiviral Potential Supported by In-Silico Analysis

Nourhan Hisham Shady  1 , Khayrya A Youssif  2 , Ahmed M Sayed  3 , Lassaad Belbahri  4 , Tomasz Oszako  5 , Hossam M Hassan  3   6 , Usama Ramadan Abdelmohsen  1   7
Affiliations
Review

Sterols and Triterpenes: Antiviral Potential Supported by In-Silico Analysis

Nourhan Hisham Shady et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

The acute respiratory syndrome caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) caused severe panic all over the world. The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has already brought massive human suffering and major economic disruption and unfortunately, there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 so far. Herbal medicines and purified natural products can provide a rich resource for novel antiviral drugs. Therefore, in this review, we focused on the sterols and triterpenes as potential candidates derived from natural sources with well-reported in vitro efficacy against numerous types of viruses. Moreover, we compiled from these reviewed compounds a library of 162 sterols and triterpenes that was subjected to a computer-aided virtual screening against the active sites of the recently reported SARS-CoV-2 protein targets. Interestingly, the results suggested some compounds as potential drug candidates for the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; antiviral potential; sterols; triterpenes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pie charts indicating the distribution of chemical subclasses of steroids (A) and triterpenes (B).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Pie charts indicating the distribution of chemical subclasses of steroids (A) and triterpenes (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pie charts indicating the biological activities of steroids (A) and triterpenes (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pie charts indicating the biological activities of steroids (A) and triterpenes (B).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus protease inhibitors.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus protease inhibitors.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus replication inhibitors.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of virus replication inhibitors.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of other antiviral compounds.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of other antiviral compounds.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of other antiviral compounds.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of other antiviral compounds.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The 2D and 3D chemical structures of other antiviral compounds.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Top-scoring triterpenes retrieved from docking against both viral and human-based targets. Hits for 5 targets (Green color), hits for 2 targets (Orange color), and hits for only one target (Black color).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Binding modes of 1ß-Hydroxyaleuritolic acid 3-p-hydroxybenzoate (11) inside SARS-CoV-2 targets. (B,D) Interactions inside both Mpro and PLpro, respectively. (A,C) co-crystallized ligands of both Mpro and PLpro, respectively.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Binding modes of 1ß-Hydroxyaleuritolic acid 3-p-hydroxybenzoate (11) inside the human-based targets. (B,D,F) Interactions inside both AAK1, cathepsin L, and furin, respectively. (A,C,E) co-crystallized ligands of AAK1, cathepsin L, and furin, respectively.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Binding modes of Ganoderiol F (14) inside the viral and human-based targets. (B,D) Interactions inside both ARP and furin, respectively. (A,C) co-crystallized ligands of ARP and furin, respectively.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Binding modes of Suberosol (16) inside the human-based targets. (B,D) Interactions inside both AAK1 and GAK, respectively. (A,C) co-crystallized ligands of AAK1 and GAK, respectively.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Binding modes of 20(21)-dehydrolucidenic acid (B) (12), Ganodermanondiol (D) (13), and Lucidumol A (E) (15) inside the viral and human-based targets (GAK and ARP, respectively). (A,C) co-crystallized ligands of GAK and ARP, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Blunt J.W., Copp B.R., Keyzers R.A., Munro M.H., Prinsep M.R. Marine natural products. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2013;30:237–323. doi: 10.1039/C2NP20112G. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Salendra L., Lin X., Chen W., Pang X., Luo X., Long J., Liao S., Wang J., Zhou X., Liu Y. Cytotoxicity of polyketides and steroids isolated from the sponge-associated fungus Penicillium citrinum SCSIO 41017. Nat. Prod. Res. 2019;1478–6419:1–9. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2019.1610757. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vil V.A., Terent’ev A.O., Savidov N., Gloriozova T.A., Poroikov V.V., Pounina T.A., Dembitsky V.M. Hydroperoxy steroids and triterpenoids derived from plant and fungi: Origin, structures, and biological activities. J. Steroid Biochem. Mol. Biol. 2019;190:76–87. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2019.03.020. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Withering W. An Account of the Foxglove, and Some of Its Medical Uses. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, UK: 2014.
    1. Krim S.R., Vivo R.P., Perez J., Inklab M., Tenner Jr T., Hodgson J. Digoxin: Current use and approach to toxicity. Am. J. Med Sci. 2008;336:423–428. doi: 10.1097/MAJ.0b013e318176b94d. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources