Drug discovery against H1N1 virus (influenza A virus) via computational virtual screening approach

The H1N1 virus is the causative agent of the recent outbreak of Swine flu pandemic. Neuraminidase is an enzyme that cleave glycosidic linkage of neuraminic acid on viral cell surface and is known to occur as antigen determinant to evoke immune response in host cell. It plays an important role in life cycle of influenza virus. Inhibitors of neuraminidase are, therefore, believed to have a potential in development of new drugs against swine flu. Using a recently published model structure of neuraminidase, we have carried out virtual screening of 70 compounds obtained from Ligand databases. The ligands library also included 57 natural plant metabolites from medicinal plants. The virtual screening was performed via PatchDock & GemDock softwares. Two of the plant metabolites, Hesperidin & Narirutin showed significantly higher docking score than the currently marketed anti-influenza drug Oseltamivir (Tamiflu).