Dengue fever is a severe, widespread disease with more than 2 million diagnosed infections per year. The Dengue virus protease represents a cardinal target for prudent drug design. Among the four serotypes Dengue 2 is known for the occurrence of its frequent epidemics. The new compound inhibited the Dengue-2 in the low-micromolar range in cells. At the moment, protease inhibitors are not actively tried against dengue virus as therapeutic option. We have identified thiosemicarbazones derived phenyl-acetyl ketones as candidate for a novel class of protease inhibitors. Here, we report the selective and non-competitive inhibition of the Dengue virus serotype 2 in vitro and in silico. Molecular docking suggests binding at a specific active site. In addition to the docking assays, few techniques were developed to interpret these molecules's antiviral profile in vitro.
Keywords: Antiviral; Dengue; Docking; Plaque assay; Thiosemicarbazones.
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