Hologram quantative structure–activity relationship studies on 1-(5-carboxyindol-1-yl)propan-2-one inhibitors of human cytosolic phospholipase A2α

Two- and three-dimensional QSAR studies on hURAT1 inhibitors with flexible linkers: topomer CoMFA and HQSAR

hURAT1 (human urate transporter 1) is a successful target for hyperuricemia. Recently, the modification work on hURAT1 inhibitors showed that the flexible linkers would benefit biological activity. The study aimed to investigate the contribution of the linkers and give modification strategies on this kind of structures based on QSAR models (HQSAR and topomer CoMFA). The most effective HQSAR and topomer CoMFA models were generated by applying the training set containing 63 compounds, with the cross-validated q² values of 0.869/0.818 and the non-cross-validated correlation coefficients r² of 0.951/0.978, respectively. The Y-randomization test was applied to ensure the robustness of the models. The external predictive correlation coefficient (r_pred²) grounded on the external test set (21 compounds) of two models was 0.910 and 0.907, respectively. In addition, the models were validated by Golbraikh-Tropsha and Roy methods, as well as other statistical metrics. The results showed that both models were reliable. Topomer CoMFA steric/electrostatic contours and HQSAR atomic contribution maps illustrated the structural features which governed their inhibitory potency. The dependable results could provide important insights to guide the designing of more potential hURAT1 inhibitors.

Combined HQSAR, topomer CoMFA, homology modeling and docking studies on triazole derivatives as SGLT2 inhibitors

Aim: Sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) is a promising target for diabetes therapy. We aimed to develop computational approaches to identify structural features for more potential SGLT2 inhibitors. Materials & methods: In this work, 46 triazole derivatives as SGLT2 inhibitors were studied using a combination of several approaches, including hologram quantitative structure–activity relationships (HQSAR), topomer comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA), homology modeling, and molecular docking. HQSAR and topomer CoMFA were used to construct models. Molecular docking was conducted to investigate the interaction of triazole derivatives and homology modeling of SGLT2, as well as to validate the results of the HQSAR and topomer CoMFA models. Results: The most effective HQSAR and topomer CoMFA models exhibited noncross-validated correlation coefficients of 0.928 and 0.891 for the training set, respectively. External predictions were made successfully on a test set and then compared with previously reported models. The graphical results of HQSAR and topomer CoMFA were proven to be consistent with the binding mode of the inhibitors and SGLT2 from molecular docking. Conclusion: The models and docking provided important insights into the design of potent inhibitors for SGLT2.

QSAR models for predicting octanol/water and organic carbon/water partition coefficients of polychlorinated biphenyls

Quantitative structure-property relationship modelling can be a valuable alternative method to replace or reduce experimental testing. In particular, some endpoints such as octanol-water (KOW) and organic carbon-water (KOC) partition coefficients of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are easier to predict and various models have been already developed. In this paper, two different methods, which are multiple linear regression based on the descriptors generated using Dragon software and hologram quantitative structure-activity relationships, were employed to predict suspended particulate matter (SPM) derived log KOC and generator column, shake flask and slow stirring method derived log KOW values of 209 PCBs. The predictive ability of the derived models was validated using a test set. The performances of all these models were compared with EPI Suite™ software. The results indicated that the proposed models were robust and satisfactory, and could provide feasible and promising tools for the rapid assessment of the SPM derived log KOC and generator column, shake flask and slow stirring method derived log KOW values of PCBs.