anti-dengue serotype 2 virus activity of 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole

Dengue has become a major global public health concern since the disease transmits an estimated 390 million infections every year in tropical and subtropical areas. there is no effective antiviral or vaccine treatment against the virus found thus far. imidazole and some derivatives are more effective in inhibiting virus replication, such as dengue virus (denv), yellow fever virus, and human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). this study investigated the antiviral potential of 2, 4, 5-triphenylimidazole, which was further tested for its inhibitory effect on the replication of denv-2 in vero cells. denv-2 replication was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) with selectivity index value (si), which was determined as the ratio of cytotoxic concentration 50 (cc50) to inhibitory concentration 50 (ic50) for the compound. in silico analysis was performed with the ns5 protein complex (pdb id: 5zqk) on the autodock tools application. drug likeness and adme profiles were evaluated to determine drug similarity and predict drug absorption rates. the maximal inhibitory concentration (ic50) of 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole against dengue virus type-2 was 27.48 µg/ml. the cytotoxic concentration (cc50) of the compound against vero cells was 36.75 µg/ml. the si value for 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole is 1.46. molecular docking showed that the compound 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole could bind to the ns5 denv-2 protein complex. this interaction formed bonds with a δg value of -7.10 and a ki value of 6.21 μm. results from the project suggest that 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole demonstrated inhibitory activities against dengue virus type 2.