Dengue virus infection has become a global threat affecting around 100 countries in the world.Currently,there is no licensed antiviral agent available against dengue.Thus,there is a strong need to develop therapeutic ...Dengue virus infection has become a global threat affecting around 100 countries in the world.Currently,there is no licensed antiviral agent available against dengue.Thus,there is a strong need to develop therapeutic strategies that can tackle this life threatening disease.RNA interference is an important and effective gene silencing process which degrades targeted RNA by a sequence specific process.Several studies have been conducted during the last decade to evaluate the efficiency of siRNA in inhibiting dengue virus replication.This review summarizes siRNAs as a therapeutic approach against dengue virus serotypes and concludes that siRNAs against virus and host genes can be next generation treatment of dengue virus infection.展开更多
Objective:To find potential peptide inhibitors against the NS2B/NS3 protease of DENV which in turn,can inhibit the viral replication inside host cell.Methods:Cyclic peptides were designed having combination of positiv...Objective:To find potential peptide inhibitors against the NS2B/NS3 protease of DENV which in turn,can inhibit the viral replication inside host cell.Methods:Cyclic peptides were designed having combination of positively charged amino acids using ChemSketch software and were converted to 3D structures.DENV NS3 protein structure was retrieved from Protein Data Bank(PDB)using PDB Id:2FOM.DENV NS3 and cylic peptides were docked using MOE software after structural optimization.Results:Through molecular docking it was revealed that most of the peptides bound deeply in the binding pocket of DENV NS2B/NS3 protease an had interactions with catalytic triad.Peptide 2 successfully blocked the catalytic triad of NS2B/NS3 protease.Peptide 1,,4 and 6 also had potential interactions with active residues of the NS2B/NS3 protease while all other peptides were in close contact with the active sites of NS2B/NS3 protease thus,these peptides can serve as a potential drug candidate to stop viral replication.Conclusions:Thus.it can be concluded from the study that these peptides could serve as important inhibitors to inhibit the viral replication and need further in-vitro investigations to confirm their efficacy.展开更多
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global health concern which is responsible for most of the liver diseases. Currently, there is no vaccine available for prevention of HCV infection due to the high degree of strain variati...Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global health concern which is responsible for most of the liver diseases. Currently, there is no vaccine available for prevention of HCV infection due to the high degree of strain variation. The current standard of care is a combination of pegylated interferon α with ribavirin and boceprevir/telaprevir. This treatment was partially effective and had significant side effects. Hence, there is a need to develop new antiviral agents that interfere with different stages of the HCV life cycle. Recent advances in the understanding of both the cellular and molecular mechanisms of HCV replication have provided the basis for novel therapeutic strategies. Several hundred plant species and their phyto-constituents have been isolated for screening against HCV, and some have been shown to have great medicinal value in preventing and/or ameliorating viral diseases in pre-clinical and clinical trials. This review summarizes medicinal plants and their phytochemicals which inhibit different stages of HCV life cycle and discuss their potential use in HCV therapy.展开更多
Objective:To determine resistance patterns of Staphylococcus aureus(S.aureus)isolated from different areas of Pakistan and to identify antimicrobial agents against multi-drug resistant S.aureus strains.Methods:A total...Objective:To determine resistance patterns of Staphylococcus aureus(S.aureus)isolated from different areas of Pakistan and to identify antimicrobial agents against multi-drug resistant S.aureus strains.Methods:A total of 67 samples(sewerage,nasal and milk)were collected from different farm areas of Pakistan to identify local strains of S.aureus.Sixteen out of 67 samples were positive for S.aureus.Only 6 out of 16 S.aureus strains showed resistance to antibiotics.Then the antibacterial effect of 29 medicinal plants was evaluated on these S.aureus isolates and a standard S.aureus strain ATCC 25923.The solvents used for the extraction of plants were acetone,dimethyl sulfoxide and methanol.The in vitro antibacterial activity was performed using agar disc diffusion method.Moreover,minimum inhibitory concentration of effective medicinal plant extracts was identified through micro-dilution method to find out their 50%inhibitory concentration.Results:Plant extracts of 5 medicinal plants(Psidium guajava,Nigella sativa,Piper nigrum,Valeriana jatamansi,and Cucurbita pepo)exhibited antibacterial activity against locally isolated multidrug resistant strains of S.aureus.The minimum inhibitory concentration of these extracts was ranged from 0.328 to 5.000 mg/mL.Conclusions:Plant extracts of Psidium guajava,Piper nigrum seed,Valeriana jatamansi,Cucurbita pepo and Nigella sativa showed significant in vitro antibacterial activity and thus,such findings may serve as valuable contribution in the treatment of infection and may contribute to the development of potential antimicrobial agents against multi drug resistant strains of S.aureus.展开更多
基金Supported by Higher Education Commission (HEC) with Grant#PM-IPFP/HRD/HEC/2012/2770
文摘Dengue virus infection has become a global threat affecting around 100 countries in the world.Currently,there is no licensed antiviral agent available against dengue.Thus,there is a strong need to develop therapeutic strategies that can tackle this life threatening disease.RNA interference is an important and effective gene silencing process which degrades targeted RNA by a sequence specific process.Several studies have been conducted during the last decade to evaluate the efficiency of siRNA in inhibiting dengue virus replication.This review summarizes siRNAs as a therapeutic approach against dengue virus serotypes and concludes that siRNAs against virus and host genes can be next generation treatment of dengue virus infection.
文摘Objective:To find potential peptide inhibitors against the NS2B/NS3 protease of DENV which in turn,can inhibit the viral replication inside host cell.Methods:Cyclic peptides were designed having combination of positively charged amino acids using ChemSketch software and were converted to 3D structures.DENV NS3 protein structure was retrieved from Protein Data Bank(PDB)using PDB Id:2FOM.DENV NS3 and cylic peptides were docked using MOE software after structural optimization.Results:Through molecular docking it was revealed that most of the peptides bound deeply in the binding pocket of DENV NS2B/NS3 protease an had interactions with catalytic triad.Peptide 2 successfully blocked the catalytic triad of NS2B/NS3 protease.Peptide 1,,4 and 6 also had potential interactions with active residues of the NS2B/NS3 protease while all other peptides were in close contact with the active sites of NS2B/NS3 protease thus,these peptides can serve as a potential drug candidate to stop viral replication.Conclusions:Thus.it can be concluded from the study that these peptides could serve as important inhibitors to inhibit the viral replication and need further in-vitro investigations to confirm their efficacy.
文摘Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global health concern which is responsible for most of the liver diseases. Currently, there is no vaccine available for prevention of HCV infection due to the high degree of strain variation. The current standard of care is a combination of pegylated interferon α with ribavirin and boceprevir/telaprevir. This treatment was partially effective and had significant side effects. Hence, there is a need to develop new antiviral agents that interfere with different stages of the HCV life cycle. Recent advances in the understanding of both the cellular and molecular mechanisms of HCV replication have provided the basis for novel therapeutic strategies. Several hundred plant species and their phyto-constituents have been isolated for screening against HCV, and some have been shown to have great medicinal value in preventing and/or ameliorating viral diseases in pre-clinical and clinical trials. This review summarizes medicinal plants and their phytochemicals which inhibit different stages of HCV life cycle and discuss their potential use in HCV therapy.
基金Supported by Higher Education Commission Pakistan(Grant No.PM-IPFP/HRD/HEC/2012/2770).
文摘Objective:To determine resistance patterns of Staphylococcus aureus(S.aureus)isolated from different areas of Pakistan and to identify antimicrobial agents against multi-drug resistant S.aureus strains.Methods:A total of 67 samples(sewerage,nasal and milk)were collected from different farm areas of Pakistan to identify local strains of S.aureus.Sixteen out of 67 samples were positive for S.aureus.Only 6 out of 16 S.aureus strains showed resistance to antibiotics.Then the antibacterial effect of 29 medicinal plants was evaluated on these S.aureus isolates and a standard S.aureus strain ATCC 25923.The solvents used for the extraction of plants were acetone,dimethyl sulfoxide and methanol.The in vitro antibacterial activity was performed using agar disc diffusion method.Moreover,minimum inhibitory concentration of effective medicinal plant extracts was identified through micro-dilution method to find out their 50%inhibitory concentration.Results:Plant extracts of 5 medicinal plants(Psidium guajava,Nigella sativa,Piper nigrum,Valeriana jatamansi,and Cucurbita pepo)exhibited antibacterial activity against locally isolated multidrug resistant strains of S.aureus.The minimum inhibitory concentration of these extracts was ranged from 0.328 to 5.000 mg/mL.Conclusions:Plant extracts of Psidium guajava,Piper nigrum seed,Valeriana jatamansi,Cucurbita pepo and Nigella sativa showed significant in vitro antibacterial activity and thus,such findings may serve as valuable contribution in the treatment of infection and may contribute to the development of potential antimicrobial agents against multi drug resistant strains of S.aureus.
