Computer-aided identification of a series of novel ligands showing high potency as hepatitis C virus NS3/4A protease inhibitors

Abstract

The model obtained by in-silico method have the following statistical records, coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.7704, cross-validation (q2LOO = 0.6914); external test set (r2(pred) = 0.7049) and Y-randomization assessment (cR2p = 0.7025). The results from the model were used to identify 12 new potential human HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitors, and it was observed that the identified molecule is well-fixed when docked with the receptor and was found to have the lowest binding energy of − 10.7, compared to approved direct-acting antiviral agents (Telaprevir, Simeprevir, and Voxilaprevir) with − 9.5, − 10.0, − 10.5 binding energy, respectively.