Preliminary identification of potential phytochemical components as antiviral agents against Dengue Virus 2: An in silico study

Dengue fever is an infectious disease of the dengue virus. It becomes a severe problem, particularly prevalent in the tropics and the subtropical countries. The disease can make a life-threatening illness at any age of the people. Still, there is no definite treatment regimen for dengue infection. Nature is a vast reservoir of precious phytochemical substances that can be explored to develop new phytotherapeutics for dengue treatment. Using natural resources either directly as pharmaceuticals or as a structural base for chemical synthesis can optimize the development of new antiviral agents against dengue. In this paper, we have tried to determine the therapeutic potentialities of some natural products as the dengue antiviral agents through in silico study. We had studied the inhibitory pattern of five phytochemical components (baicalein, fisetin, fucoidan, hyperoside, β-carboline) against the dengue envelope protein of dengue virus serotype-2. Among the components, baicalein and β-carboline were the potential phytochemicals that can inhibit the early step of viral infection after binding with dengue envelope protein. Other phytochemicals did not show satisfactory results. This result will be helpful for the development of new medicines from natural resources.