Novel Non-Peptide Inhibitors against SmCL1 of Schistosoma mansoni: In Silico Elucidation, Implications and Evaluation via Knowledge Based Drug Discovery.
Schistosomiasis is a major endemic disease known for excessive mortality and morbidity in developing countries. Because praziquantel is the only drug available for its treatment, the risk of drug resistance emphasizes the need to discover new drugs for this disease. Cathepsin SmCL1 is the critical target for drug design due to its essential role in the digestion of host proteins for growth and development of Schistosoma mansoni. Inhibiting the function of SmCL1 could control the wide spread of infections caused by S. mansoni in humans. With this objective, a homology modeling approach was used to obtain theoretical three-dimensional (3D) structure of SmCL1. In order to find the potential inhibitors of SmCL1, a plethora of in silico techniques were employed to screen non-peptide inhibitors against SmCL1 via structure-based drug discovery protocol. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were performed on the results of docked protein-ligand complexes to identify top ranking molecules against the modelled 3D structure of SmCL1. MD simulation results suggest the phytochemical Simalikalactone-D as a potential lead against SmCL1, whose pharmacophore model may be useful for future screening of potential drug molecules. To conclude, this is the first report to discuss the virtual screening of non-peptide inhibitors against SmCL1 of S. mansoni, with significant therapeutic potential. Results presented herein provide a valuable contribution to identify the significant leads and further derivatize them to suitable drug candidates for antischistosomal therapy.
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Atif
A
Zafar
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India.
Sabahuddin
S
Ahmad
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Asim
A
Rizvi
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Masood
M
Ahmad
D000465:Algorithms; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D002403:Cathepsins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000737:chemistry; D003198:Computer Simulation; D055808:Drug Discovery; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000737:chemistry; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D019359:Knowledge; D008024:Ligands; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D055672:Static Electricity; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013816:Thermodynamics
D000871:Anthelmintics; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D008024:Ligands; D010455:Peptides; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D002403:Cathepsins