Analysis of Inhibitor Binding Combined with Reactivity Studies to Discover the Potentially Inhibiting Phytochemicals Targeting Chikungunya Viral Replication

Background: Chikungunya fever is a challenging threat to human health in various parts of the world nowadays. Many attempts have been made for developing an effective drug against this viral disease and no effective antiviral treatment has been developed to control the spread of the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in humans. Objective: This research is aimed at the discovery of potential inhibitors against this virus by employing computational techniques to study the interactions between non-structural proteins of Chikungunya virus and phytochemicals from plants. Methods: Four non-structural proteins were docked with 2035 phytochemicals from various plants. The ligands having binding energies ≥ -8.0 kcal/mol were considered as potential inhibitors for these proteins. ADMET studies were also performed to analyze different pharmacological properties of these docked compounds and to further analyze the reactivity of these phytochemicals against CHIKV, DFT analysis was carried out based on HOMO and LUMO energies. Results: By analyzing the binding energies, Ki, ADMET properties and band energy gaps, it was observed that 13 phytochemicals passed all the criteria to be a potent inhibitor against CHIKV in humans. Conclusion: A total of 13 phytochemicals were identified as potent inhibiting candidates, which can be used against the Chikungunya virus.