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Popov P, Kalinin R, Buslaev P, Kozlovskii I, Zaretckii M, Karlov D, Gabibov A, Stepanov A. Unraveling viral drug targets: a deep learning-based approach for the identification of potential binding sites. Brief Bioinform 2023; 25:bbad459. [PMID: 38113077 PMCID: PMC10783863 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbad459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spurred a wide range of approaches to control and combat the disease. However, selecting an effective antiviral drug target remains a time-consuming challenge. Computational methods offer a promising solution by efficiently reducing the number of candidates. In this study, we propose a structure- and deep learning-based approach that identifies vulnerable regions in viral proteins corresponding to drug binding sites. Our approach takes into account the protein dynamics, accessibility and mutability of the binding site and the putative mechanism of action of the drug. We applied this technique to validate drug targeting toward severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike glycoprotein S. Our findings reveal a conformation- and oligomer-specific glycan-free binding site proximal to the receptor binding domain. This site comprises topologically important amino acid residues. Molecular dynamics simulations of Spike in complex with candidate drug molecules bound to the potential binding sites indicate an equilibrium shifted toward the inactive conformation compared with drug-free simulations. Small molecules targeting this binding site have the potential to prevent the closed-to-open conformational transition of Spike, thereby allosterically inhibiting its interaction with human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor. Using a pseudotyped virus-based assay with a SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody, we identified a set of hit compounds that exhibited inhibition at micromolar concentrations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petr Popov
- Tetra-d, Rheinweg 9, Schaffhausen, 8200, Switzerland
- School of Science, Constructor University Bremen gGmbH, 28759, Bremen, Germany
| | - Roman Kalinin
- M.M. Shemyakin and Yu.A. Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117997, Russia
| | - Pavel Buslaev
- Nanoscience Center and Department of Chemistry, University of Jyväskylä, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Igor Kozlovskii
- Tetra-d, Rheinweg 9, Schaffhausen, 8200, Switzerland
- School of Science, Constructor University Bremen gGmbH, 28759, Bremen, Germany
| | - Mark Zaretckii
- Tetra-d, Rheinweg 9, Schaffhausen, 8200, Switzerland
- School of Science, Constructor University Bremen gGmbH, 28759, Bremen, Germany
| | - Dmitry Karlov
- School of Pharmacy, Medical Biology Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, Street, Belfast, BT9 7BL Northern Ireland, U.K
| | - Alexander Gabibov
- M.M. Shemyakin and Yu.A. Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117997, Russia
| | - Alexey Stepanov
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road MB-10, La Jolla, 92037, CA, USA
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2
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Halder SK, Sultana I, Shuvo MN, Shil A, Himel MK, Hasan MA, Shawan MMAK. In Silico Identification and Analysis of Potentially Bioactive Antiviral Phytochemicals against SARS-CoV-2: A Molecular Docking and Dynamics Simulation Approach. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2023; 2023:5469258. [PMID: 37214084 PMCID: PMC10195178 DOI: 10.1155/2023/5469258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2, a deadly coronavirus sparked COVID-19 pandemic around the globe. With an increased mutation rate, this infectious agent is highly transmissible inducing an escalated rate of infections and death everywhere. Hence, the discovery of a viable antiviral therapy option is urgent. Computational approaches have offered a revolutionary framework to identify novel antimicrobial treatment regimens and allow a quicker, cost-effective, and productive conversion into the health center by evaluating preliminary and safety investigations. The primary purpose of this research was to find plausible plant-derived antiviral small molecules to halt the viral entrance into individuals by clogging the adherence of Spike protein with human ACE2 receptor and to suppress their genome replication by obstructing the activity of Nsp3 (Nonstructural protein 3) and 3CLpro (main protease). An in-house library of 1163 phytochemicals were selected from the NPASS and PubChem databases for downstream analysis. Preliminary analysis with SwissADME and pkCSM revealed 149 finest small molecules from the large dataset. Virtual screening using the molecular docking scoring and the MM-GBSA data analysis revealed that three candidate ligands CHEMBL503 (Lovastatin), CHEMBL490355 (Sulfuretin), and CHEMBL4216332 (Grayanoside A) successfully formed docked complex within the active site of human ACE2 receptor, Nsp3, and 3CLpro, respectively. Dual method molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and post-MD MM-GBSA further confirmed efficient binding and stable interaction between the ligands and target proteins. Furthermore, biological activity spectra and molecular target analysis revealed that all three preselected phytochemicals were biologically active and safe for human use. Throughout the adopted methodology, all three therapeutic candidates significantly outperformed the control drugs (Molnupiravir and Paxlovid). Finally, our research implies that these SARS-CoV-2 protein antagonists might be viable therapeutic options. At the same time, enough wet lab evaluations would be needed to ensure the therapeutic potency of the recommended drug candidates for SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sajal Kumar Halder
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh
| | - Ive Sultana
- Department of Microbiology, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh
| | | | - Aparna Shil
- Department of Botany, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh
| | | | - Md. Ashraful Hasan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh
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Harikrishna AS, Venkitasamy K. Identification of novel human nicotinamide N-methyltransferase inhibitors: a structure-based pharmacophore modeling and molecular dynamics approach. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2023; 41:14638-14650. [PMID: 36856058 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2183714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023]
Abstract
Human nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (hNNMT) is a cytosolic enzyme associated in the phase-II metabolism, belonging to the S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferases family. Overexpression of hNNMT was observed in diseases such as metabolic disorders and different types of cancers, which suggest NNMT as a prospective therapeutic target. In this study we propose a structure-based pharmacophore model to understand the structural features responsible for the pharmacological activity. The generated model was validated using the ROC curve (AUC), goodness of hit score (GH), specificity, sensitivity and enrichment factor (EF). The pharmacophore was employed to retrieve active molecules from the ZINC database, followed by virtual-screening and molecular docking. Six molecules with the best pharmfit score, binding energy and ADMET properties were identified in this study. A 150 ns molecular dynamics simulation was performed on the selected molecules complexed with hNNMT protein to validate the results. The molecules ZINC35464499, ZINC13311192, ZINC31159282, ZINC14650833, ZINC14819515 and ZINC00303881 were identified, which could be act as the potential hNNMT inhibitors and can also be used as direct hits for developing novel hNNMT antagonists.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- A S Harikrishna
- Chemical Biology Laboratory, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Kesavan Venkitasamy
- Chemical Biology Laboratory, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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4
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Opo FADM, Moulay M, Zari A, Alqaderi A, Alkarim S, Zari T, Bhuiyan MA, Mahmoud MM, Aljoud F, Suhail M, Edris S, Ramadan WS, Kamal MA, Nemmiche S, Ahammad F. Pharmacophore-based virtual screening approaches to identify novel molecular candidates against EGFR through comprehensive computational approaches and in-vitro studies. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:1027890. [PMID: 36457709 PMCID: PMC9707641 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.1027890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 09/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Alterations to the EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) gene, which primarily occur in the axon 18-21 position, have been linked to a variety of cancers, including ovarian, breast, colon, and lung cancer. The use of TK inhibitors (gefitinib, erlotinib, lapatinib, and afatinib) and monoclonal antibodies (cetuximab, panitumumab, and matuzumab) in the treatment of advanced-stage cancer is very common. These drugs are becoming less effective in EGFR targeted cancer treatment and developing resistance to cancer cell eradication, which sometimes necessitates stopping treatment due to the side effects. One in silico study has been conducted to identify EGFR antagonists using other compounds, databases without providing the toxicity profile, comparative analyses, or morphological cell death pattern. The goal of our study was to identify potential lead compounds, and we identified seven compounds based on the docking score and four compounds that were chosen for our study, utilizing toxicity analysis. Molecular docking, virtual screening, dynamic simulation, and in-vitro screening indicated that these compounds' effects were superior to those of already marketed medication (gefitinib). The four compounds obtained, ZINC96937394, ZINC14611940, ZINC103239230, and ZINC96933670, demonstrated improved binding affinity (-9.9 kcal/mol, -9.6 kcal/mol, -9.5 kcal/mol, and -9.2 kcal/mol, respectively), interaction stability, and a lower toxicity profile. In silico toxicity analysis showed that our compounds have a lower toxicity profile and a higher LD50 value. At the same time, a selected compound, i.e., ZINC103239230, was revealed to attach to a particular active site and bind more tightly to the protein, as well as show better in-vitro results when compared to our selected gefitinib medication. MTT assay, gene expression analysis (BAX, BCL-2, and β-catenin), apoptosis analysis, TEM, cell cycle assay, ELISA, and cell migration assays were conducted to perform the cell death analysis of lung cancer and breast cancer, compared to the marketed product. The MTT assay exhibited 80% cell death for 75 µM and 100µM; however, flow cytometry analysis with the IC50 value demonstrated that the selected compound induced higher apoptosis in MCF-7 (30.8%) than in A549.
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Affiliation(s)
- F A Dain Md Opo
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Embryonic Stem Cell Research Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohammed Moulay
- Embryonic Stem Cell Research Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Embryonic and Cancer Stem Cell Research Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Biology, Abdelhamid ibn Badis University, Mostaganem, Algeria
| | - Ali Zari
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Embryonic and Cancer Stem Cell Research Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Afnan Alqaderi
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Saleh Alkarim
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Embryonic Stem Cell Research Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Embryonic and Cancer Stem Cell Research Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Talal Zari
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Maged Mostafa Mahmoud
- King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Molecular Genetics and Enzymology Department, Human Genetics and Genome Research Institute, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Fadwa Aljoud
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Regenerative Medicine Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohd Suhail
- King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Sherif Edris
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Embryonic and Cancer Stem Cell Research Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Princess Al-Jawhara Al-Brahim Centre of Excellence in Research of Hereditary Disorders (PACER-HD), Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Wafaa S. Ramadan
- Embryonic and Cancer Stem Cell Research Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohammad Amjad Kamal
- King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Saïd Nemmiche
- Department of Biology, Abdelhamid ibn Badis University, Mostaganem, Algeria
| | - Foysal Ahammad
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS), College of Health and Life Sciences (CHLS), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar
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5
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Gu L, Li B, Ming D. A multilayer dynamic perturbation analysis method for predicting ligand-protein interactions. BMC Bioinformatics 2022; 23:456. [PMID: 36324073 PMCID: PMC9628359 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-022-04995-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ligand-protein interactions play a key role in defining protein function, and detecting natural ligands for a given protein is thus a very important bioengineering task. In particular, with the rapid development of AI-based structure prediction algorithms, batch structural models with high reliability and accuracy can be obtained at low cost, giving rise to the urgent requirement for the prediction of natural ligands based on protein structures. In recent years, although several structure-based methods have been developed to predict ligand-binding pockets and ligand-binding sites, accurate and rapid methods are still lacking, especially for the prediction of ligand-binding regions and the spatial extension of ligands in the pockets. RESULTS In this paper, we proposed a multilayer dynamics perturbation analysis (MDPA) method for predicting ligand-binding regions based solely on protein structure, which is an extended version of our previously developed fast dynamic perturbation analysis (FDPA) method. In MDPA/FDPA, ligand binding tends to occur in regions that cause large changes in protein conformational dynamics. MDPA, examined using a standard validation dataset of ligand-protein complexes, yielded an averaged ligand-binding site prediction Matthews coefficient of 0.40, with a prediction precision of at least 50% for 71% of the cases. In particular, for 80% of the cases, the predicted ligand-binding region overlaps the natural ligand by at least 50%. The method was also compared with other state-of-the-art structure-based methods. CONCLUSIONS MDPA is a structure-based method to detect ligand-binding regions on protein surface. Our calculations suggested that a range of spaces inside the protein pockets has subtle interactions with the protein, which can significantly impact on the overall dynamics of the protein. This work provides a valuable tool as a starting point upon which further docking and analysis methods can be used for natural ligand detection in protein functional annotation. The source code of MDPA method is freely available at: https://github.com/mingdengming/mdpa .
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Gu
- grid.412022.70000 0000 9389 5210College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Biotech Building Room B1-404, 30 South Puzhu Road, Jiangbei New District, Nanjing City, 211816 Jiangsu People’s Republic of China
| | - Bin Li
- grid.412022.70000 0000 9389 5210College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Biotech Building Room B1-404, 30 South Puzhu Road, Jiangbei New District, Nanjing City, 211816 Jiangsu People’s Republic of China
| | - Dengming Ming
- grid.412022.70000 0000 9389 5210College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Biotech Building Room B1-404, 30 South Puzhu Road, Jiangbei New District, Nanjing City, 211816 Jiangsu People’s Republic of China
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6
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Shekarappa SB, Rimac H, Lee J. In Silico Screening of Quorum Sensing Inhibitor Candidates Obtained by Chemical Similarity Search. Molecules 2022; 27:molecules27154887. [PMID: 35956838 PMCID: PMC9369968 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27154887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Quorum sensing (QS) is a bacterial communication using signal molecules, by which they sense population density of their own species, leading to group behavior such as biofilm formation and virulence. Autoinducer-2 (AI2) is a QS signal molecule universally used by both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Inhibition of QS mediated by AI2 is important for various practical applications, including prevention of gum-disease caused by biofilm formation of oral bacteria. In this research, molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed for molecules that are chemically similar to known AI2 inhibitors that might have a potential to be quorum sensing inhibitors. The molecules that form stable complexes with the AI2 receptor protein were found, suggesting that they could be developed as a novel AI2 inhibitors after further in vitro validation. The result suggests that combination of ligand-based drug design and computational methods such as MD simulation, and experimental verification, may lead to development of novel AI inhibitor, with a broad range of practical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hrvoje Rimac
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
| | - Julian Lee
- Department of Bioinformatics and Life Science, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, Korea;
- Correspondence:
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Shi W, Singha M, Pu L, Srivastava G, Ramanujam J, Brylinski M. GraphSite: Ligand Binding Site Classification with Deep Graph Learning. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12081053. [PMID: 36008947 PMCID: PMC9405584 DOI: 10.3390/biom12081053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The binding of small organic molecules to protein targets is fundamental to a wide array of cellular functions. It is also routinely exploited to develop new therapeutic strategies against a variety of diseases. On that account, the ability to effectively detect and classify ligand binding sites in proteins is of paramount importance to modern structure-based drug discovery. These complex and non-trivial tasks require sophisticated algorithms from the field of artificial intelligence to achieve a high prediction accuracy. In this communication, we describe GraphSite, a deep learning-based method utilizing a graph representation of local protein structures and a state-of-the-art graph neural network to classify ligand binding sites. Using neural weighted message passing layers to effectively capture the structural, physicochemical, and evolutionary characteristics of binding pockets mitigates model overfitting and improves the classification accuracy. Indeed, comprehensive cross-validation benchmarks against a large dataset of binding pockets belonging to 14 diverse functional classes demonstrate that GraphSite yields the class-weighted F1-score of 81.7%, outperforming other approaches such as molecular docking and binding site matching. Further, it also generalizes well to unseen data with the F1-score of 70.7%, which is the expected performance in real-world applications. We also discuss new directions to improve and extend GraphSite in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wentao Shi
- Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (W.S.); (J.R.)
| | - Manali Singha
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (M.S.); (G.S.)
| | - Limeng Pu
- Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA;
| | - Gopal Srivastava
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (M.S.); (G.S.)
| | - Jagannathan Ramanujam
- Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (W.S.); (J.R.)
- Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA;
| | - Michal Brylinski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (M.S.); (G.S.)
- Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-(225)-578-2791; Fax: +1-(225)-578-2597
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Akawa OB, Soremekun OS, Olotu FA, Soliman MES. Atomistic insights into the selective therapeutic activity of 6-(2,4-difluorophenoxy)-5-((ethylmethyl)pyridine-3-yl)-8-methylpyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazin-1(2H)-one towards bromodomain-containing proteins. Comput Biol Chem 2021; 95:107592. [PMID: 34710811 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2021.107592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Cross-target effect has been one of the major mechanisms of drug toxicity, this has necessitated the design of inhibitors that are specifically tailored to target particular biomolecules. 6-(2,4-difluorophenoxy)-5-((ethylmethyl)pyridine-3-yl)-8-methylpyrrolo[1,2-a] pyrazin-1(2H)-one (Cpd38) is an inhibitor possessing high inhibition rate and tailored specificity towards bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4). In this research, we used an array of computational techniques to provide insight at the atomistic level the specific targeting of BRD4 by Cpd38 relative to the binding of Cpd38 with E1A binding protein P300 (EP300); another bromodomain-containing protein (BCP). Comparatively, binding of Cpd38 improved the conformational stability and compactness of BRD4 protein when compared to the Cpd38 bound EP300. Also, Cpd38 induced a conformational change in the active site of BRD4 that facilitated a complementary pose between Cpd38 and BRD4 suitable for effective atomistic interactions. Expectedly, thermodynamic calculations revealed that the Cpd38-BRD4 system had higher binding energy (-36.11 Kcal/mol) than the Cpd38-EP300 system with a free binding energy of -15.86 Kcal/mol. Noteworthy is the opposing role Trp81 (acting as hydrogen bond acceptor) and Pro1074 (acting as hydrogen bond donor) found on the WPF and LPF loops respectively play in maintaining Cpd38 stability. Furthermore, the hydrogen bond acceptor/donator ratio was approximately 4:1 in Cpd38-BRD4 system compared with 2:1 in Cpd38-EP300 system. Taken together, atomistic insights and structural perspectives detailed in this report supplements the experimental report supporting the improved selectivity of Cpd38 for BRD4 ahead of other BCPs while providing leeway for the future design of BET selective agents with better pharmacological profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oluwole B Akawa
- Molecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa
| | - Opeyemi S Soremekun
- Molecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa
| | - Fisayo A Olotu
- Molecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa
| | - Mahmoud E S Soliman
- Molecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa.
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9
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Structure based pharmacophore modeling, virtual screening, molecular docking and ADMET approaches for identification of natural anti-cancer agents targeting XIAP protein. Sci Rep 2021; 11:4049. [PMID: 33603068 PMCID: PMC7892887 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83626-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) is a member of inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family responsible for neutralizing the caspases-3, caspases-7, and caspases-9. Overexpression of the protein decreased the apoptosis process in the cell and resulting development of cancer. Different types of XIAP antagonists are generally used to repair the defective apoptosis process that can eliminate carcinoma from living bodies. The chemically synthesis compounds discovered till now as XIAP inhibitors exhibiting side effects, which is making difficulties during the treatment of chemotherapy. So, the study has design to identifying new natural compounds that are able to induce apoptosis by freeing up caspases and will be low toxic. To identify natural compound, a structure-based pharmacophore model to the protein active site cavity was generated following by virtual screening, molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Initially, seven hit compounds were retrieved and based on molecular docking approach four compounds has chosen for further evaluation. To confirm stability of the selected drug candidate to the target protein the MD simulation approach were employed, which confirmed stability of the three compounds. Based on the finding, three newly obtained compounds namely Caucasicoside A (ZINC77257307), Polygalaxanthone III (ZINC247950187), and MCULE-9896837409 (ZINC107434573) may serve as lead compounds to fight against the treatment of XIAP related cancer, although further evaluation through wet lab is necessary to measure the efficacy of the compounds.
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10
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Naderi M, Lemoine JM, Govindaraj RG, Kana OZ, Feinstein WP, Brylinski M. Binding site matching in rational drug design: algorithms and applications. Brief Bioinform 2019; 20:2167-2184. [PMID: 30169563 PMCID: PMC6954434 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bby078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2018] [Revised: 07/18/2018] [Accepted: 07/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Interactions between proteins and small molecules are critical for biological functions. These interactions often occur in small cavities within protein structures, known as ligand-binding pockets. Understanding the physicochemical qualities of binding pockets is essential to improve not only our basic knowledge of biological systems, but also drug development procedures. In order to quantify similarities among pockets in terms of their geometries and chemical properties, either bound ligands can be compared to one another or binding sites can be matched directly. Both perspectives routinely take advantage of computational methods including various techniques to represent and compare small molecules as well as local protein structures. In this review, we survey 12 tools widely used to match pockets. These methods are divided into five categories based on the algorithm implemented to construct binding-site alignments. In addition to the comprehensive analysis of their algorithms, test sets and the performance of each method are described. We also discuss general pharmacological applications of computational pocket matching in drug repurposing, polypharmacology and side effects. Reflecting on the importance of these techniques in drug discovery, in the end, we elaborate on the development of more accurate meta-predictors, the incorporation of protein flexibility and the integration of powerful artificial intelligence technologies such as deep learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Misagh Naderi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Jeffrey Mitchell Lemoine
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Division of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | | | - Omar Zade Kana
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Wei Pan Feinstein
- High-Performance Computing, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Michal Brylinski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Center for Computation & Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
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Pu L, Govindaraj RG, Lemoine JM, Wu HC, Brylinski M. DeepDrug3D: Classification of ligand-binding pockets in proteins with a convolutional neural network. PLoS Comput Biol 2019; 15:e1006718. [PMID: 30716081 PMCID: PMC6375647 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Revised: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Comprehensive characterization of ligand-binding sites is invaluable to infer molecular functions of hypothetical proteins, trace evolutionary relationships between proteins, engineer enzymes to achieve a desired substrate specificity, and develop drugs with improved selectivity profiles. These research efforts pose significant challenges owing to the fact that similar pockets are commonly observed across different folds, leading to the high degree of promiscuity of ligand-protein interactions at the system-level. On that account, novel algorithms to accurately classify binding sites are needed. Deep learning is attracting a significant attention due to its successful applications in a wide range of disciplines. In this communication, we present DeepDrug3D, a new approach to characterize and classify binding pockets in proteins with deep learning. It employs a state-of-the-art convolutional neural network in which biomolecular structures are represented as voxels assigned interaction energy-based attributes. The current implementation of DeepDrug3D, trained to detect and classify nucleotide- and heme-binding sites, not only achieves a high accuracy of 95%, but also has the ability to generalize to unseen data as demonstrated for steroid-binding proteins and peptidase enzymes. Interestingly, the analysis of strongly discriminative regions of binding pockets reveals that this high classification accuracy arises from learning the patterns of specific molecular interactions, such as hydrogen bonds, aromatic and hydrophobic contacts. DeepDrug3D is available as an open-source program at https://github.com/pulimeng/DeepDrug3D with the accompanying TOUGH-C1 benchmarking dataset accessible from https://osf.io/enz69/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Limeng Pu
- Division of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
| | - Rajiv Gandhi Govindaraj
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
| | - Jeffrey Mitchell Lemoine
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
- Division of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
| | - Hsiao-Chun Wu
- Division of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
| | - Michal Brylinski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
- Center for Computation & Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Naderi M, Govindaraj RG, Brylinski M. eModel-BDB: a database of comparative structure models of drug-target interactions from the Binding Database. Gigascience 2018; 7:5057873. [PMID: 30052959 PMCID: PMC6131211 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giy091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2017] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The structural information on proteins in their ligand-bound conformational state is invaluable for protein function studies and rational drug design. Compared to the number of available sequences, not only is the repertoire of the experimentally determined structures of holo-proteins limited, these structures do not always include pharmacologically relevant compounds at their binding sites. In addition, binding affinity databases provide vast quantities of information on interactions between drug-like molecules and their targets, however, often lacking structural data. On that account, there is a need for computational methods to complement existing repositories by constructing the atomic-level models of drug-protein assemblies that will not be determined experimentally in the near future. Results We created eModel-BDB, a database of 200,005 comparative models of drug-bound proteins based on 1,391,403 interaction data obtained from the Binding Database and the PDB library of 31 January 2017. Complex models in eModel-BDB were generated with a collection of the state-of-the-art techniques, including protein meta-threading, template-based structure modeling, refinement and binding site detection, and ligand similarity-based docking. In addition to a rigorous quality control maintained during dataset generation, a subset of weakly homologous models was selected for the retrospective validation against experimental structural data recently deposited to the Protein Data Bank. Validation results indicate that eModel-BDB contains models that are accurate not only at the global protein structure level but also with respect to the atomic details of bound ligands. Conclusions Freely available eModel-BDB can be used to support structure-based drug discovery and repositioning, drug target identification, and protein structure determination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Misagh Naderi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Bldg, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Rajiv Gandhi Govindaraj
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Bldg, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Michal Brylinski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Bldg, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.,Center for Computation & Technology, Louisiana State University, 2054 Digital Media Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
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Large-scale computational drug repositioning to find treatments for rare diseases. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2018; 4:13. [PMID: 29560273 PMCID: PMC5847522 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-018-0050-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2017] [Revised: 01/22/2018] [Accepted: 02/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Rare, or orphan, diseases are conditions afflicting a small subset of people in a population. Although these disorders collectively pose significant health care problems, drug companies require government incentives to develop drugs for rare diseases due to extremely limited individual markets. Computer-aided drug repositioning, i.e., finding new indications for existing drugs, is a cheaper and faster alternative to traditional drug discovery offering a promising venue for orphan drug research. Structure-based matching of drug-binding pockets is among the most promising computational techniques to inform drug repositioning. In order to find new targets for known drugs ultimately leading to drug repositioning, we recently developed eMatchSite, a new computer program to compare drug-binding sites. In this study, eMatchSite is combined with virtual screening to systematically explore opportunities to reposition known drugs to proteins associated with rare diseases. The effectiveness of this integrated approach is demonstrated for a kinase inhibitor, which is a confirmed candidate for repositioning to synapsin Ia. The resulting dataset comprises 31,142 putative drug-target complexes linked to 980 orphan diseases. The modeling accuracy is evaluated against the structural data recently released for tyrosine-protein kinase HCK. To illustrate how potential therapeutics for rare diseases can be identified, we discuss a possibility to repurpose a steroidal aromatase inhibitor to treat Niemann-Pick disease type C. Overall, the exhaustive exploration of the drug repositioning space exposes new opportunities to combat orphan diseases with existing drugs. DrugBank/Orphanet repositioning data are freely available to research community at https://osf.io/qdjup/.
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Brylinski M, Naderi M, Govindaraj RG, Lemoine J. eRepo-ORP: Exploring the Opportunity Space to Combat Orphan Diseases with Existing Drugs. J Mol Biol 2017; 430:2266-2273. [PMID: 29237557 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2017.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2017] [Revised: 11/15/2017] [Accepted: 12/05/2017] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
About 7000 rare, or orphan, diseases affect more than 350 million people worldwide. Although these conditions collectively pose significant health care problems, drug companies seldom develop drugs for orphan diseases due to extremely limited individual markets. Consequently, developing new treatments for often life-threatening orphan diseases is primarily contingent on financial incentives from governments, special research grants, and private philanthropy. Computer-aided drug repositioning is a cheaper and faster alternative to traditional drug discovery offering a promising venue for orphan drug research. Here, we present eRepo-ORP, a comprehensive resource constructed by a large-scale repositioning of existing drugs to orphan diseases with a collection of structural bioinformatics tools, including eThread, eFindSite, and eMatchSite. Specifically, a systematic exploration of 320,856 possible links between known drugs in DrugBank and orphan proteins obtained from Orphanet reveals as many as 18,145 candidates for repurposing. In order to illustrate how potential therapeutics for rare diseases can be identified with eRepo-ORP, we discuss the repositioning of a kinase inhibitor for Ras-associated autoimmune leukoproliferative disease. The eRepo-ORP data set is available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/qdjup/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Brylinski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; Center for Computation & Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
| | - Misagh Naderi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | | | - Jeffrey Lemoine
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; Division of Computer Science and Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
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