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Development of novel anti-influenza drugs using the DEGIMA supercomputer

The research group of Prof. Noriyuki Nishida, Ass. Prof. Ken Watanabe, Assoc. Prof. Takeshi Ishikawa et.al. in Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases, NEKKEN, succeeded in the development of novel anti-influenza drugs. The research group focused on the PB1-binding pocket of the PA protein of influenza viral polymerase. In silico screening of 600,000 compounds were performed with Nagasaki University’s original DGEIMA supercomputer and software. The top 100 compounds were subjected to a 2nd cell-based screening. The hit compound PA-49 showed a good IC50 value of 0.47uM and was also active against type B and H1N1pdm(2009) viruses. Currently the research group is in progress of developing novel anti-influenza drugs that have a different scaffold than our first findings using in silico, organic synthesis and biological activity evaluation systems that we custom designed for a grant from AMED.

Publication:
Ken Watanabe, et al. Structure-based drug discovery for combating influenza virus by targeting the PA?PB1 interaction. Scientific Reports. Aug 25;7(1):9500 (2017).

DOI

AMED grant J-PRIDE website(in Japanese): http://www.amed.go.jp/koubo/010620170310_kettei.html