Merged experimental guided computational strategy toward tuberculosis treatment mediated by alveolar macrophages mannose receptor

Inhibition of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in SD rats by sea cucumber peptides

BACKGROUND

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is the terminal manifestation of a type of pulmonary disease, which seriously affects the respiratory function of the body, and with no effective cure for treatment. This study evaluated the effect of sea cucumber peptides (SCP) on bleomycin-induced SD rat PF.

RESULTS

SCP can inhibit the PF induced by bleomycin. PF and SCP did not affect the food intake of rats, but PF reduced the body weight of rats, and SCP could improve the weight loss. SCP reduced lung index in PF rats in a dose-dependent manner. SCP significantly reduced IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, α-SMA and VIM expression levels in lung tissue (P < 0.05), significantly decreased TGF-β1 expression level in serum (P < 0.01) and the LSCP group and MSCP group had better inhibitory effects on PF than the HSCP group. Histomorphological results showed that SCP could ameliorate the structural damage of lung tissue, alveolar wall rupture, inflammatory cell infiltration, fibroblast proliferation and deposition of intercellular matrix and collagen fibers caused by PF. The improvement effect of the MSCP group was the most noteworthy in histomorphology. Metabolomics results showed that SCP significantly downregulated catechol, N-acetyl-l-histidine, acetylcarnitine, stearoylcarnitine, d-mannose, l-threonine, l-alanine, glycine, 3-guanidinopropionic acid, prostaglandin D2 and embelic acid d-(-)-β-hydroxybutyric acid expression levels in lung tissue.

CONCLUSION

SCP ameliorate bleomycin-induced SD rat PF. KEGG pathway analysis proved that SCP intervened in PF mainly via the lysosome pathway, with d-mannose as the key factor. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Revisiting methotrexate and phototrexate Zinc15 library-based derivatives using deep learning in-silico drug design approach

Introduction: Cancer is the second most prevalent cause of mortality in the world, despite the availability of several medications for cancer treatment. Therefore, the cancer research community emphasized on computational techniques to speed up the discovery of novel anticancer drugs. Methods: In the current study, QSAR-based virtual screening was performed on the Zinc15 compound library (271 derivatives of methotrexate (MTX) and phototrexate (PTX)) to predict their inhibitory activity against dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), a potential anticancer drug target. The deep learning-based ADMET parameters were employed to generate a 2D QSAR model using the multiple linear regression (MPL) methods with Leave-one-out cross-validated (LOO-CV) Q2 and correlation coefficient R2 values as high as 0.77 and 0.81, respectively. Results: From the QSAR model and virtual screening analysis, the top hits (09, 27, 41, 68, 74, 85, 99, 180) exhibited pIC50 ranging from 5.85 to 7.20 with a minimum binding score of -11.6 to -11.0 kcal/mol and were subjected to further investigation. The ADMET attributes using the message-passing neural network (MPNN) model demonstrated the potential of selected hits as an oral medication based on lipophilic profile Log P (0.19-2.69) and bioavailability (76.30% to 78.46%). The clinical toxicity score was 31.24% to 35.30%, with the least toxicity score (8.30%) observed with compound 180. The DFT calculations were carried out to determine the stability, physicochemical parameters and chemical reactivity of selected compounds. The docking results were further validated by 100 ns molecular dynamic simulation analysis. Conclusion: The promising lead compounds found endorsed compared to standard reference drugs MTX and PTX that are best for anticancer activity and can lead to novel therapies after experimental validations. Furthermore, it is suggested to unveil the inhibitory potential of identified hits via in-vitro and in-vivo approaches.

Chalcones reloaded: an integration of network pharmacology and molecular docking for type 2 diabetes therapy

Chalcones have various biological effects, from immune boosting to anti-cancer and anti-diabetic. Structurally modified chalcones (SMC) are clinically relevant for diabetes and cardiometabolic complications. From the original research articles, a structurally proven and biologically outstanding 14 structurally modified chalcones were screened and inducted in this study. This study evaluated the effects of SMC towards diabetes via network pharmacology analysis. The network data shows compounds S2, S3, S5, S9 &S12 suit the diabetes target. Especially Compounds S5 and S9 have a higher binding affinity towards the targets of TNF, PI3K, MAPK1 and AKT1 active sites. Compound S9 [(E)-3-(4-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)phenyl)-1-(4-(2,4-difluorobenz-yloxy)phenyl)prop-2-en-1-one] have identified with stronger binding affinities towards the active sites of MAPK3 (PDB:4QTB) -10.5(Kcal/mol). To provide a more effective mechanism for demonstrating protein-ligand interaction, one of the molecular docking complex (ERK2 kinase-S5) was subjected to a molecular dynamic at 300K for 100 ns. In term of structural stability, structure compactness, residual flexibility and hydrogen bond interaction of the complex was evaluated Integrating network pharmacology, in silico virtual screening, and molecular docking analysis shows that structurally modified compounds are effective and may help identify lead compounds towards glycemic control.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Development and validation of UPLC-MS/MS method for in vitro quantitative analysis of pyrazinamide in lipid core-shell nanoarchitectonics for improved metabolic stability

Pyrazinamide (PZA), a medication for tuberculosis, has high aqueous solubility and low permeability, undergoes extensive liver metabolism, and exhibits liver toxicity through its metabolites. To avoid this, PZA in lipid core-shell nanoarchitectonics has been formulated to target lymphatic uptake and provide metabolic stability to the incorporated drug. The UPLC-MS/MS method for reliable in vitro quantitative analysis of pyrazinamide (PZA) in lipid core-shell nanoarchitectonics as per ICH guidance was developed and validated using the HILIC column. The developed UPLC-MS/MS method is a simple, precise, accurate, reproducible, and sensitive method for the estimation of PZA in PZA-loaded lipid core-shell nanoarchitectonics for the in vitro determination of % entrapment efficiency, % loading of pyrazinamide, and microsomal stability of lipid core-shell nanoarchitectonics in human liver microsomes. The % entrapment efficiency was found to be 42.72% (±12.60). Lipid nanoarchitectonics was found to be stable in human liver microsomes, where %QH was found to be 6.20%, that is, low clearance. Thus, this formulation is suitable for preventing PZA-mediated extensive liver metabolism. These findings are relevant for the development of other lipid-mediated, suitable, stable nanoformulations containing PZA through various in vitro methods.

Synthesis, Characterizations, and Use of O-Stearoyl Mannose Ligand-Engineered Lipid Nanoarchitectonics for Alveolar Macrophage Targeting

The main challenging aspect in the management of tuberculosis (TB) diseases is effective alveolar macrophages targeting. Macrophage mannose receptor plays a predominant role in stimulating immune systems by TB pathogen. Our earlier in silico computational studies revealed that O-stearoyl mannose (OSM) possesses a higher affinity with macrophage mannose receptors. Therefore, keeping this in view, we developed OSM with the association of stearic acid and d-mannose as initial reactants by the esterification process. Preliminary confirmation of reaction was assessed with thin-layer chromatography experimentation, whereas further confirmation followed by in vitro characterization with several analytical experimental tools such as fourier transform near-infrared, differential scanning calorimetry, and electrospray ionization-assisted mass spectrometry confirms the formation of the OSM. This synthesized and well-characterized OSM as a ligand was further incubated with surface-engineered lipid nanoarchitectonics to achieve OSM ligand-engineered lipid nanoarchitectonics and earlier explored for its safety study through hemolysis assay and potential in vitro triggering efficiency in human alveolar macrophages (THP-1 cells) to validate its active targeting efficiency. Graphical Abstract [Figure: see text].