Anti-Viral

C60 fullerene against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus: an in silico insight

Vasyl V. Hurmach, Maksim O. Platonov, Svitlana V. Prylutska, Peter Scharff, Yuriy I. Prylutskyy & Uwe Ritter

According to the fact that C60 fullerene (a sphere-shaped molecule consisting of carbon) has shown inhibitory activity against various protein targets, here the analysis of the potential binding mechanism between SARS-CoV-2 proteins 3CLpro and RdRp with C60 fullerene was done; it has resulted in one and two possible binding mechanisms, respectively. In the case of 3CLpro, C60 fullerene interacts in the catalytic binding pocket. And for RdRp in the first model C60 fullerene blocks RNA synthesis pore and in the second one it prevents binding with Nsp8 co-factor (without this complex formation, RdRp can’t perform its initial functions). Then the molecular dynamics simulation confirmed the stability of created complexes. The obtained results might be a basis for other computational studies of 3CLPro and RdRp potential inhibition ways as well as the potential usage of C60 fullerene in the fight against COVID-19 disease.

Anti-Influenza

Anti-Influenza Activity of C60 Fullerene Derivatives

Masaki Shoji, 1 Etsuhisa Takahashi, 2 Dai Hatakeyama, 1 Yuma Iwai, 1 Yuka Morita, 1 Riku Shirayama, 1 Noriko Echigo, 1 Hiroshi Kido, 2 Shigeo Nakamura, 3 Tadahiko Mashino, 4 Takeshi Okutani, 1 and Takashi Kuzuhara 1 , *

The H1N1 influenza A virus, which originated in swine, caused a global pandemic in 2009, and the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus has also caused epidemics in Southeast Asia in recent years. Thus, the threat from influenza A remains a serious global health issue, and novel drugs that target these viruses are highly desirable. Influenza A RNA polymerase consists of the PA, PB1, and PB2 subunits, and the N-terminal domain of the PA subunit demonstrates endonuclease activity.

In a cell culture system, we found that several fullerene derivatives inhibit influenza A viral infection and the expression of influenza A nucleoprotein and nonstructural protein 1. These results indicate that fullerene derivatives are possible candidates for the development of novel anti-influenza drugs.

Inhibit Viruses

Using C60 fullerenes for photodynamic inactivation of mosquito iridescent viruses

Yu Rud 1, L Buchatskyy, Yu Prylutskyy, O Marchenko, A Senenko, Ch Schütze, U Ritter

This article describes the photodynamic inactivation of mosquito iridescent virus (MIV) Aedes flavescens in the presence of water-soluble C(60) fullerenes. It has been observed that the photodynamic inactivation of MIV for about 1 h reduces the infectious titre of the virus in large wax-moth larvae Galleria mellonella to 4.5 lg ID(50)/mL. The influence of the C(60) concentration on its anti-viral activity was tested in the concentration range from 1 to 0.001 mg/mL. 

Anti-Viral

Medicinal applications of fullerenes

Rania Bakry, Rainer M Vallant, Muhammad Najam-ul-Haq, Matthias Rainer, Zoltan Szabo, Christian W Huck, and Günther K Bonn

Compounds with antiviral activity are generally of great medical interest and different modes of pharmaceutical actions have been described. Replication of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be suppressed by several antiviral compounds, which are effective in preventing or delaying the onset of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Fullerenes (C60) and their derivatives have potential antiviral activity, which has strong implications on the treatment of HIV-infection. The antiviral activity of fullerene derivatives is based on several biological properties including their unique molecular architecture and antioxidant activity.

Fullerenes have unusual redox chemistry and may be reversibly reduced by up to six electrons. These, along with the low toxicity detected so far in fullerenes, are sufficient to stimulate researchers in chemistry and in biology to unite their efforts and systematically investigate the biological properties of these fascinating molecules. A wave of research and development activities all over the world has led to large number of application-oriented patents, spanning a very broad range spectrum of potential commercial applications, including: anticancer anticancer drug delivery systems using photodynamic therapy, HIV drugs, and cosmetics to slow down the aging of human skin.