About the Authors

Sajid Ali Rajput

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Current address: Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

Affiliation Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center of Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

Munazza Raza Mirza

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center of Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

M. Iqbal Choudhary

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

iqbal.choudhary@iccs.edu

Affiliations Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center of Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, H. E. J. Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following competing interests: Searle Pharmaceuticals Pakistan Ltd. provided funds for publishing this work. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare.