Complex peptide macrocycle optimization: combining NMR restraints with conformational analysis to guide structure-based and ligand-based design.

Systematic optimization of large macrocyclic peptide ligands is a serious challenge. Here, we describe an approach for lead-optimization using the PD-1/PD-L1 system as a retrospective example of moving from initial lead compound to clinical candidate. We show how conformational restraints can be derived by exploiting NMR data to identify low-energy solution ensembles of a lead compound. Such restraints can be used to focus conformational search for analogs in order to accurately predict bound ligand poses through molecular docking and thereby estimate ligand strain and protein-ligand intermolecular binding energy. We also describe an analogous ligand-based approach that employs molecular similarity optimization to predict bound poses. Both approaches are shown to be effective for prioritizing lead-compound analogs. Surprisingly, relatively small ligand modifications, which may have minimal effects on predicted bound pose or intermolecular interactions, often lead to large changes in estimated strain that have dominating effects on overall binding energy estimates. Effective macrocyclic conformational search is crucial, whether in the context of NMR-based restraints, X-ray ligand refinement, partial torsional restraint for docking/ligand-similarity calculations or agnostic search for nominal global minima. Lead optimization for peptidic macrocycles can be made more productive using a multi-disciplinary approach that combines biophysical data with practical and efficient computational methods.

Evaluation of the binding performance of flavonoids to estrogen receptor alpha by Autodock, Autodock Vina and Surflex-Dock.

Molecular docking is a widely used method to predict the binding modes of small-molecule ligands to the target binding site. However, it remains a challenge to identify the correct binding conformation and the corresponding binding affinity for a series of structurally similar ligands, especially those with weak binding. An understanding of the various relative attributes of popular docking programs is required to ensure a successful docking outcome. In this study, we systematically compared the performance of three popular docking programs, Autodock, Autodock Vina, and Surflex-Dock for a series of structurally similar weekly binding flavonoids (22) binding to the estrogen receptor alpha (ERα). For these flavonoids-ERα interactions, Surflex-Dock showed higher accuracy than Autodock and Autodock Vina. The hydrogen bond overweighting by Autodock and Autodock Vina led to incorrect binding results, while Surflex-Dock effectively balanced both hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions. Moreover, the selection of initial receptor structure is critical as it influences the docking conformations of flavonoids-ERα complexes. The flexible docking method failed to further improve the docking accuracy of the semi-flexible docking method for such chemicals. In addition, binding interaction analysis revealed that 8 residues, including Ala350, Glu353, Leu387, Arg394, Phe404, Gly521, His524, and Leu525, are the key residues in ERα-flavonoids complexes. This work provides reference for assessing molecular interactions between ERα and flavonoid-like chemicals and provides instructive information for other environmental chemicals.

In silico data mining of large-scale databases for the virtual screening of human interleukin-2 inhibitors.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is involved in the activation and differentiation of T-helper cells. Uncontrolled activated T cells play a key role in the pathophysiology by stimulating inflammation and autoimmune diseases like arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn's disease. T cells activation can be suppressed either by preventing IL-2 production or blocking the IL-2 interaction with its receptor. Hence, IL-2 is now emerging as a target for novel therapeutic approaches in several autoimmune disorders. This study was carried out to set up an effective virtual screening (VS) pipeline for IL-2. Four docking/scoring approaches (FRED, MOE, GOLD and Surflex-Dock) were compared in the re-docking process to test their performance in producing correct binding modes of IL-2 inhibitors. Surflex-Dock and FRED were the best in predicting the native pose in its top-ranking position. Shapegauss and CGO scoring functions identified the known inhibitors of IL-2 in top 1, 5 and 10 % of library and differentiated binders from non-binders efficiently with average AUC of > 0.9 and > 0.7, resp. The applied docking protocol served as a basis for the VS of a large database that will lead to the identification of more active compounds against IL-2.

Molecular Docking Studies of Glycyrrhetinic Acid Derivatives as Anti- Colorectal Cancer Agents.

BACKGROUND: In this study, the anti-colorectal cancer (CRC) activities of 40 glycyrrhetinic acid derivatives were proposed and evaluated by the molecular docking method, which allowed the flexibility of both ligand-receptor, with twelve CRC-related targets. METHODS: The proposed derivatives, which clearly distinguish isomers at position 18 as well as the different tautomers, were divided into five groups, including (1) glycyrrhetinic acid and its oxidation derivatives, (2) glycoside derivatives, (3) 3ß-amine derivatives, (4) five-membered heterocyclic ring-combined derivatives, and (5) six-membered heterocyclic ring-combined derivatives. RESULTS: Finally, four out of twelve proposed targets related to CRC with good binding affinities to the proposed glycyrrhetinic acid derivatives were selected, including Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK), Lactate Dehydrogenase A (LDHA), and Thymidylate Synthase (TS). CONCLUSION: From there, 9/40 derivatives for EGFR (pKd ≥ 9); 10/40 derivatives for FAK (pKd ≥ 10); 9/40 derivatives for LDHA (pKd ≥ 10), and 6/40 derivatives for TS (pKd ≥ 9) were also obtained. The glycoside derivatives showed the best binding affinity (especially the glucuronide derivative 5b), followed by the 3ß-amino derivatives (especially the 3ß-(phenylamino) derivative 8b) and the five-membered heterocyclic ring-combined derivatives (especially the pyrrole derivative 10a or pyrazole derivative 11.2a), while the six-membered heterocyclic ring-combined derivatives had less potential to inhibit the 4 selected targets.

A click chemistry approach for the synthesis of cyclic ureido tethered coumarinyl and 1-aza coumarinyl 1,2,3-triazoles as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and their in silico studies.

Nucleoside bases like uracil, pharmacophoric triazoles and benzimidazolones have been used during the present study to design molecular matrices for antitubercular activity, employing Click Chemistry. Click triazoles 4/7/10 have been obtained by the reaction of 4-(Azidomethyl)-2H-chromen-2-ones/quinolin-2(1H)-ones 3 and propargyl ethers 2/6/9 derived from theophylline/6-methyl uracil/2-benzimidazolone respectively. In addition to spectral data structures have been confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies in case of uracil bis alkyne (6) and theophylline mono triazole (4c). Theophylline linked mono triazoles, 4(a-d) and 6-methyl uracil linked bis triazoles, 7(a-e) have been found to inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv with MIC values in the range 55.62-115.62 µM. Benzimidazolone bis triazoles, 10(a-n) showed better activity with MIC in the range 2.33-18.34 µM. Molecular modeling studies using Surflex-Dock algorithm supported our results.

A selectivity study of benzenesulfonamide derivatives on human carbonic anhydrase II/IX by 3D-QSAR, Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

Nowadays, different approaches have been pursued with the intent to develop sulfonamide-like carbonic anhydrase inhibitors that possess better selectivity profiles toward the different human isoforms of the enzyme. Here, we used conventional 3D-QSAR methods, including comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA), comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA), and Topomer CoMFA, to construct three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) models for benzenesulfonamide derivatives as human carbonic anhydrase (hCA) II/IX inhibitors. The theoretical models had good reliability (R2>0.75) and predictability (Q2>0.55), and the contour maps could graphically present the contributions of the force fields for activity and identify the structural divergence between human carbonic anhydrase II inhibitors and human carbonic anhydrase IX inhibitors. Consequently, we explored the selectivity of inhibitor for human carbonic anhydrase II and IX through molecular docking, and the difference of activity coincides with the potential binding mode well. According to the results of the predicted values and the molecule docking, we found that the inhibitors published in the literature had stronger inhibition on the hCA IX; based on the theoretical models, we designed seven new compounds with good potential activity and reasonably good ADMET profile, which could selectively inhibit hCA IX. Molecular Dynamics Simulation showed that newly-designed compound D7 had good selectivity on hCA IX. The findings from 3D-QSAR and docking studies maybe helpful in the rational drug design of isoform-selective inhibitors.

Synthesis, molecular modeling and BACE-1 inhibitory study of tetrahydrobenzo[b] pyran derivatives.

ß-Secretase (BACE1) has been broadly documented as one of the possible therapeutic targets for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In this paper, we report the synthesis and the for ß-secretase (BACE-1) inhibitory activity of new series of tetrahydrobenzo [b] pyran derivatives. One-pot synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo [b] pyrans was carried out by condensing aromatic aldehyde, malononitrile and 1,3-cyclohexanedione using ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride ([bmIm]Cl-) in aqueous alcohol media. The addition of alcohol and water in the ratio of 1:2 keeps all the reactants in solution which facilitates the reaction and makes the product formation very easy. The synthesized compounds were subjected to BACE1 inhibition assay and six compounds, 4d, 4e, 4f, 4h, 4i, and 4p have shown significant IC50 values at micromolar level. Among these six active compounds, 4e was a potential inhibitor with its IC50 value in nanomolar range. All the synthesized compounds were docked onto the active site of ß-Secretase enzyme.

Insights into cytochrome bc1 complex binding mode of antimalarial 2-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinones through molecular modelling

BACKGROUND Malaria persists as a major public health problem. Atovaquone is a drug that inhibits the respiratory chain of Plasmodium falciparum, but with serious limitations like known resistance, low bioavailability and high plasma protein binding. OBJECTIVES The aim of this work was to perform molecular modelling studies of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones analogues of atovaquone on the Qo site of P. falciparum cytochrome bc1 complex (Pfbc1) to suggest structural modifications that could improve their antimalarial activity. METHODS We have built the homology model of the cytochrome b (CYB) and Rieske iron-sulfur protein (ISP) subunits from Pfbc1 and performed the molecular docking of 41 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones with known in vitro antimalarial activity and predicted to act on this target. FINDINGS Results suggest that large hydrophobic R2 substituents may be important for filling the deep hydrophobic Qo site pocket. Moreover, our analysis indicates that the H-donor 2-hydroxyl group may not be crucial for efficient binding and inhibition of Pfbc1 by these atovaquone analogues. The C1 carbonyl group (H-acceptor) is more frequently involved in the important hydrogen bonding interaction with His152 of the Rieske ISP subunit. MAIN CONCLUSIONS Additional interactions involving residues such as Ile258 and residues required for efficient catalysis (e.g., Glu261) could be explored in drug design to avoid development of drug resistance by the parasite.

Discovery of novel dual VEGFR2 and Src inhibitors using a multistep virtual screening approach.

AIM: Simultaneous inhibition of VEGFR2 and Src may enhance the efficacy of VEGFR2-targeted cancer therapeutics. Hence, development of dual inhibitors on VEGFR2 and Src can be a useful strategy for such treatments. MATERIALS & METHODS: A multistep virtual screening protocol, comprising ligand-based support vector machines method, drug-likeness rules filter and structure-based molecular docking, was developed and employed to identify dual inhibitors of VEGFR2 and Src from a large commercial chemical library. Kinase inhibitory assays and cell viability assays were then used for experimental validation. RESULTS: A set of compounds belonging to six different molecular scaffolds was identified and sent for biological evaluation. Compound 3c belonging to the 2-amino-3-cyanopyridine scaffold exhibited good antiproliferative effect and dual-target activities against VEGFR2 and Src. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the ability of the multistep virtual screening approach to identify novel multitarget agents.

One pot Click chemistry: A three component reaction for the synthesis of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole linked coumarinyl triazoles as anti-tubercular agents.

2-Propargylthiobenzimidazole 1, 4-bromomethyl coumarins/1-aza-coumarins 2/3 and sodium azide have been reacted in one pot under Click chemistry conditions to give exclusively 1,4-disubstituted triazoles 5a-n. Anti-tubercular assays against M. tuberculosis (H37Rv) coupled with in silico molecular docking studies indicated that dimethyl substituents 5c and 5d showed promising activity with higher C-score values.

A click chemistry approach for the synthesis of mono and bis aryloxy linked coumarinyl triazoles as anti-tubercular agents.

A series of mono and bis-triazole coumarin hybrids 6a-u and 9a-f respectively have been synthesized using 4-(azidomethyl)-2H-chromen-2-ones 5a-i and aryl propargyl ethers 2a-c/8 employing Click chemistry modified protocol for Azide-Alkyne cycloadditions(CuAAC). Anti-tubercular screening showed moderate activity for mono aryloxy compounds 6a-u with MIC 50-100 µg/mL, whereas the bis compounds 9a-f were more effective with MICs between 0.2 and 12.5 µg/mL. Molecular modeling and 3D-QSAR measurements using CoMFA and Topomer CoMFA further supported the observed results. The bis compound 9b showed excellent activity with MIC value as low as 0.2 µg/mL.

3D-QSAR and molecular docking studies on 23-hydroxybetulinic acid derivatives with antitumor activity / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To formulate the three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) model of 23-hydroxybetulinic acid derivatives with promising antitumor activity and study their molecular docking with topoisomerase I (Topo I).

Synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies of 4-aryloxymethyl coumarins derived from substructures and degradation products of vancomycin.

Two series of 4-aryloxymethyl coumarins derived from the reaction of 4-bromomethyl coumarins with ethyl gallate and ethyl ester of N-Benzoyl tyrosine have been synthesized. Gallate ethers 3a-3g and tyrosine derivatives 4e-4j were most effective against Entercoccus faecalis. They were also found to be effective against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. Comparative docking studies with novobiocin have indicated better binding ability and higher 'C' score values than novobiocin.

Pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidine derivatives as type II kinase insert domain receptor (KDR) inhibitors: CoMFA and CoMSIA studies.

Kinase insert domain receptor (KDR) inhibitors have been proved to be very effective anticancer agents. Molecular docking, 3D-QSAR methods, CoMFA and CoMSIA were performed on pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidine derivatives as non-ATP competitive KDR inhibitors (type II). The bioactive conformation was explored by docking one potent compound 20 into the active site of KDR in its DFG-out inactive conformation. The constructed CoMFA and CoMSIA models produced statistically significant results with the cross-validated correlation coefficients q(2) of 0.542 and 0.552, non-cross-validated correlation coefficients r(2) of 0.912 and 0.955, and predicted correction coefficients r(2) (pred) of 0.913 and 0.897, respectively. These results ensure the CoMFA and CoMSIA models as a tool to guide the design of a series of new potent KDR inhibitors.