ABSTRACT
Secretory glutaminyl cyclase (sQC) plays an important role in the formation of the pyroglutamate-amyloid beta (pGlu-Aß) peptide, one of the most abundant variants of Aß found in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. This post-translationally modified pGlu-Aß possesses high toxicity and rapid aggregation propensity when compared to the wild-type Aß (WT-Aß). Since pGlu-Aß acts as seed for WT-Aß, the inhibition of sQC limits the formation of pGlu-Aß and reduces the overall load of Aß plaques in the AD brain. PQ912 is a potent inhibitor of sQC and has been enrolled in phase 2b clinical trial of the AD drug development pipeline; however, the binding mode of PQ912 against sQC is not elucidated yet. Understanding the binding mode of PQ912 is important as it helps in the discovery against AD where sQC as a target. To explore the binding mode of PQ912, we employed ensemble docking towards 9 sQC structures that differ either in active site geometry or in the bound ligands. Further pose clustering and binding energy calculations yielded three possible binding modes for PQ912. Finally, all atom molecular dynamics simulations determined the most energetically favorable binding mode for PQ912, in the active site of sQC, which is similar to that of LSB-09, a recently reported sQC inhibitor containing benzimidazole-6-carboxamide moiety.
Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease/drug therapy , Aminoacyltransferases/antagonists & inhibitors , Amyloid beta-Peptides/chemistry , Benzimidazoles/chemistry , Enzyme Inhibitors/chemistry , Imidazolines/chemistry , Neuroprotective Agents/chemistry , Amino Acid Sequence , Benzimidazoles/pharmacology , Catalytic Domain , Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology , Humans , Imidazolines/pharmacology , Molecular Docking Simulation , Molecular Dynamics Simulation , Neuroprotective Agents/pharmacology , Protein Binding , Protein Conformation , Pyrrolidonecarboxylic Acid/chemistry , Structure-Activity RelationshipABSTRACT
Aging in the biological system is an irreversible process. In the initial stages of lifespan aging improves survival skills of an organism while in the later stages aging reduce the survival skills. Aging is associated with changes in several cellular and molecular functions among which calcium signaling is a prominent one. Calcium signaling is essential for many vital functions of the brain and even minor impairments in calcium signaling can lead to deleterious consequences including neuronal death. Calcium signaling proteins are pursued as promising drug targets for many aging related diseases. This review attempts to summarize changes in calcium signaling in the brain as a result of aging.
