IN SILICO APPROACH, TO STUDY THE PHYTOCHEMICALS PRESENT IN CAMELLIA SINENSIS AND WITHANIA SOMNIFERA TO TARGET MPXV VIRUS A42R FOR THE TREATMENT OF MONKEYPOX DISEASE

Abstract

The Human Monkeypox virus (hMPXV) causes a zoonotic disease and belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus. In 2022, the largest outbreak of this disease led to an epidemic in various countries. As stated by the World Health Organisation (WHO), physical contact with affected animals, persons, or contaminated surfaces may serve as possible transmission routes for the virus infection. Symptoms may appear after about 7-14 days of infection, including myalgia, fever, fatigue, body aches, headaches, skin lesions, and lymphadenopathy. JYNNEOS and ACAM2000 are both FDA-approved vaccines used to prevent Monkeypox disease however, the latter vaccine can cause severe conditions like pericarditis and myocarditis in immunocompromised vaccinated individuals. Thus, drugs that can target the virus are in high demand, according to current circumstances. Therefore, Camellia sinensis, a medical plant with active phytochemical compounds and withania somnifera is an herb traditionally have great use in ayurveda can serve as a potential source for synthesizing herbal drugs. In this research, using molecular docking, the leading active compounds observed in the plant showed remarkable interactions with suitable binding affinities. Barassinolide and teasterone from camellia sinensis have same binding energy whereas 27-Deoxy 14- hydroxywithaferin A from withania somnifera surpasses other phytochemicals regarding binding energy, i.e., -8.7 kcal/mol and –10 Kcal/mol making it the most promising phytochemical that can be used as a therapeutic target.