Molecular docking analysis of GC-MS analyzed bioactive compounds from the rhizome of Hedychium rubrum with four protein targets.

Hedychium rubrum, a traditional medicinal plant of Manipur belonging to the family Zingeberaceae was screened for its biological activity. The methanolic extract of its rhizome was prepared by Soxhlet extraction method and was further subjected to GC-MS to know its bioactive compounds. The in vitro antimicrobial activity assay was tested against five bacteria causing UTI. Klebseilla pneumoniae showed most sensitive followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis in the order. Plant extract showed higher inhibition zone than the positive control used. According to the higher quality of compounds from the GCMS results nine compounds were selected for further in silico studies using GOLD software against four protein targets. The phytoconstituents present in the methanolic extract have the ability to bind at the receptor site of all four targeted proteins. ADMET and TOPKAT studies were also carried out.

Structural insights and binding of a natural ligand, succinic acid with serine and cysteine proteases.

In the age of growing infectious diseases, there is a great demand for new inhibitors which can exhibit minimum side effects. Owing to the importance of proteases in life cycle and invasion, they have been projected as attractive targets for structure based drug designing against microbes including viruses. Here we report the inhibitory activity of a well known natural compound succinic acid against both serine and cysteine proteases. The ligand is found co-crystallized with Bovine pancreatic trypsin in one of our crystallization trials and the diffraction data up to1.9 Å reveal its interactions with the catalytic triad residues Histidine 57 and Serine 195. Binding of the ligand with these proteases have been validated using caseinolysis inhibition. With trypsin, ITC analysis showed tight binding of the ligand, resulting in change in Gibb's free energy (ΔG) by -20.31 kJ/mol. To understand the existence of succinic acid at the active site, molecular docking was performed and it revealed binding of it with trypsin and papain at corresponding active sites. This dual inhibitory activity of natural ligand, succinic acid can be accounted for the recent reports on anti-viral property of plant extracts where dicarboxilic fatty acids are normally abundant.

Screening dietary flavonoids for the reversal of P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance in cancer.

P-Glycoprotein (P-gp) serves as a therapeutic target for the development of inhibitors to overcome multidrug resistance in cancer cells. Although various screening procedures have been practiced so far to develop first three generations of P-gp inhibitors, their toxicity and drug interaction profiles are still a matter of concern. To address the above important problem of developing safe and effective P-gp inhibitors, we have made systematic computational and experimental studies on the interaction of natural phytochemicals with human P-gp. Molecular docking and QSAR studies were carried out for 40 dietary phytochemicals in the drug-binding site of the transmembrane domains (TMDs) of P-gp. Dietary flavonoids exhibit better interactions with homology modeled human P-gp. Based on the computational analysis, selected flavonoids were tested for their inhibitory potential against P-gp transport function in drug resistant cell lines using calcein-AM and rhodamine 123 efflux assays. It has been found that quercetin and rutin were the highly desirable flavonoids for the inhibition of P-gp transport function and they significantly reduced resistance in cytotoxicity assays to paclitaxel in P-gp overexpressing MDR cell lines. Hence, quercetin and rutin may be considered as potential chemosensitizing agents to overcome multidrug resistance in cancer.

Identification of potential inhibitors based on compound proposal contest: Tyrosine-protein kinase Yes as a target.

A search of broader range of chemical space is important for drug discovery. Different methods of computer-aided drug discovery (CADD) are known to propose compounds in different chemical spaces as hit molecules for the same target protein. This study aimed at using multiple CADD methods through open innovation to achieve a level of hit molecule diversity that is not achievable with any particular single method. We held a compound proposal contest, in which multiple research groups participated and predicted inhibitors of tyrosine-protein kinase Yes. This showed whether collective knowledge based on individual approaches helped to obtain hit compounds from a broad range of chemical space and whether the contest-based approach was effective.

Spectral studies of 2-pyrazoline derivatives: structural elucidation through single crystal XRD and DFT calculations.

A series of biologically active N-thiocarbamoyl pyrazoline derivatives have been synthesized using anhydrous potassium carbonate as the catalyst. All the synthesized compounds were characterized by FT-IR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR spectral studies, LCMS, CHN Analysis and X-ray diffraction analysis (compound 7). In order to supplement the XRD parameters, molecular modelling was carried out by Gaussian 03W. From the optimized structure, the energy, dipolemoment and HOMO-LUMO energies of all the systems were calculated.

Modeling studies on phospholipase A2-inhibitor complexes.

Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) is a ubiquitous enzyme that specifically catalyzes hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids to produce lysophospholipids and free fatty acid, namely arachidonic acid, which provides substrate for eicosanoids biosynthesis. Thus, the compounds inhibiting PLA2 have been implicated as potential therapeutic agents in treatment of inflammation related diseases. Plant and marine organisms serve as sources of compounds that act as potential therapeutic agents for treatment of various diseases. The present study reveals the relationship between the structure and function of the medicinally important herbal compounds (acalyphin, chlorogenic acid, stigmasterol, curcumin and tectoridin) and marine compounds (gracilin A and aplysulphurin A). To understand the binding mechanisms of these compounds, molecular modeling studies has been performed with Russell's viper and bovine pancreatic PLA2 as target molecules using molecular operating environment (MOE) software. These compounds show favorable interactions with the amino acid residues at the active site of Russell's viper and bovine pancreatic PLA2, thereby substantiating their proven efficacy as anti-inflammatory compounds and antidotes.

Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis of a series of indole analogues as inhibitor for human group V secretory phospholipase A2.

Phospholipase A2s (PLA2) are a class of enzymes, which catalyze the hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids at the sn-2 position to release fatty acids and lysophospholipids. When the fatty acid is arachidonic acid (AA), a complementary metabolism leads to pro-inflammatory mediators collectively known as eicosanoids. Thus, inhibiting PLA2 activity remains a prime target for the development of new drugs for the treatment of inflammation-related diseases. More than one type of PLA2s plays a major role in inflammatory disease conditions. In the present study, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) study was performed for a series of 48 Me-indoxam derivatives as human group V PLA, (hVPLA2) inhibitors, using molecular operating environment (MOE) software. The hVPLA2 is a secretory PLA2 (sPLA2), involved in eicosanoid formation in inflammatory cells such as macrophages and mast cells. These studies have come out with three good predictive models (r = 0.82-0.84), which are cross-validated (rcv = 0.68-0.70) by leave-out-one method (Loo). The positive correlation of spatial descriptor Pmiz with inhibitory activity shows that proper orientation of the substitution at R position towards Z-axis is necessary to facilitate the possible interactions of the indole core with active site residues of the PLA2 enzyme. The negative contribution of b_rotN (atom and bond count-type descriptor) suggests that increasing flexibility conferred by the R substitution is detrimental for the activity. In addition to the hVPLA2 inhibitory activity is found to be highly influenced by molecular size, energy and polarity of the Me-indoxam derivatives.