Molecular Insights into the Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Released from Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Other Cells in the Therapy of Hematologic Malignancies

In silico investigations identified Butyl Xanalterate to competently target CK2α (CSNK2A1) for therapy of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an incurable malignancy of B-cells. In this study, bioinformatics analyses were conducted to identify possible pathogenic roles of CK2α, which is a protein encoded by CSNK2A1, in the progression and aggressiveness of CLL. Furthermore, various computational tools were used to search for a competent inhibitor of CK2α from fungal metabolites that could be proposed for CLL therapy. In CLL patients, high-expression of CSNK2A1 was associated with early need for therapy (n = 130, p < 0.0001) and short overall survival (OS; n = 107, p = 0.005). Consistently, bioinformatics analyses showed CSNK2A1 to associate with/play roles in CLL proliferation and survival-dependent pathways. Furthermore, PPI network analysis identified interaction partners of CK2α (PPI enrichment p value = 1 × 10^-16) that associated with early need for therapy (n = 130, p < 0.003) and have been known to heavily impact on the progression of CLL. These findings constructed a rational for targeting CK2α for CLL therapy. Consequently, computational analyses reported 35 fungal metabolites out of 5820 (filtered from 19,967 metabolites) to have lower binding energy (ΔG: - 10.9 to - 11.7 kcal/mol) and better binding affinity (Kd: 9.77 × 10⁷ M^-1 to 3.77 × 10⁸ M^-1) compared with the native ligand (ΔG: - 10.8, Kd: 8.3 × 10⁷ M-^-1). Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation study established that Butyl Xanalterate-CK2α complex continuously remained stable throughout the simulation time (100 ns). Moreover, Butyl Xanalterate interacted with most of the catalytic residues, where complex was stabilized by more than 65% hydrogen bond interactions, and a significant hydrophobic interaction with residue Phe113. Here, high-expression of CSNK2A1 was implicated in the progression and poor prognosis of CLL, making it a potential therapeutic target in the disease. Butyl Xanalterate showed stable and strong interactions with CK2α, thus we propose it as a competitive inhibitor of CK2α for CLL therapy.