A systematic review of computational drug discovery, development, and repurposing for Ebola Virus Disease treatment
Citation: Schuler J, Hudson ML, Schwartz D, Samudrala R. A systematic review of computational drug discovery, development, and repurposing for Ebola virus disease treatment. Molecules. 2017 Oct;22(10):1777.
Summary: Utilization of computational modeling to explore drug mechanisms and drug options for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is time saving, safe, and cost effective. This mechanism for drug discovery should be taken advantage of due to the alarming speed of Ebola virus transmission in outbreaks with high-level biosafety facility requirements for Ebola virus dealing clinical trials.
Computational research studies that have listed potential drug targets/biologics that can be used for EVD treatment were reviewed. Twenty-three articles were reviewed, which looked at different methodologies (drug mechanism of action) employed, candidate compound/ biologics introduced, and software utilized.
Data showed high variability in research quality with the lack of standardization upon selected compounds and drugs. Thus, every research has its own scientific value, but due to the relatively unacquainted field of study, the majority are not supported nor are the compounds reproducible. The study also emphasizes a multi-targeting approach (available in computational modeling) as it differs from the traditional single targeted drugs by lowering the chance of causing mutation driven resistance.
Merits from computational modeling are appropriate for pre-clinical Ebola virus targeting drug discoveries, although further research is required to confirm the candidate compounds and biologics proposed.