title: Key role of Dkk3 protein in inhibition of cancer cell proliferation: An in silico identification.
abstract: Dkk3 is a member of Dkk family proteins, regulating Wnt signaling. Dkk3 plays different roles in human and mouse tumors. Dkk3 predominantly act as a tumor suppressor, however several reports revealed that Dkk3 could accelerate cancer cell proliferation. Herein, we aimed at launching an in silico study to determine Dkk3 structure and its interactions with Kremen and LRP as Wnt signaling receptors as well as EGF receptor. Using various softwares a model was built for Dkk3 molecule. Different protein modeling approaches along with model refinement processes were employed to arrive at the final model. To achieve the final complex of Dkk3 with Kremen, LRP and EGFR molecules protein-protein docking servers were employed. Model assessment softwares indicated the high quality of the finally refined Dkk3 3D structure, indicating the accuracy of modeling and refinement process. Our results revealed that Dkk3 is capable of interacting with Kremen, LRP and EGFR with comparable binding energies. Dkk3 efficiently interacts with LRP, Kremen and EGF receptor and may be a promising protein in cancer therapy by blocking Wnt and EGFR downstream signaling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hemn
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mohammadpour
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: Pourfa@modares.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Ali Akbar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Pourfathollah
authors.affiliation: Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nikougoftar Zarif
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khalili
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D011485:Protein Binding; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
keywords: Bioinformatics; Cancer; Dkk; EGFR; Wnt signaling