scholarly journals Preferential Selectivity of Inhibitors with Human Tau Protein Kinase Gsk3 Elucidates Their Potential Roles for Off-Target Alzheimer’s Therapy

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jagadeesh Kumar Dasappa ◽  
H. G. Nagendra
Keyword(s):  
Tau Protein ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Structural Alignment ◽  
Specific Inhibitor ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
Multiple Sequence ◽  
Catalytic Active Site ◽  
Structural Details ◽  
Tau Kinases

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of amyloid beta peptides (A) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). The abnormal phosphorylation of tau leads to the formation of NFTs produced by the action of tau kinases, resulting in the loss of neurons and synapse, leading to dementia. Hence, tau kinases have become potential drug target candidates for small molecule inhibitors. With an aim to explore the identification of a common inhibitor, this investigation was undertaken towards analyzing all 10 tau kinases which are implicated in phosphorylation of AD. A set of 7 inhibitors with varied scaffolds were collected from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The analysis, involving multiple sequence alignment, 3D structural alignment, catalytic active site overlap, and docking studies, has enabled elucidation of the pharmacophoric patterns for the class of 7 inhibitors. Our results divulge that tau protein kinases share a specific set of conserved structural elements for the binding of inhibitors and ATP, respectively. The scaffold of 3-aminopyrrolidine (inhibitor 6) exhibits high preferential affinity with GSK3. Surprisingly, the PDB does not contain the structural details of GSK3 with this specific inhibitor. Thus, our investigations provide vital clues towards design of novel off-target drugs for Alzheimer’s.

In silico Discovery of Resveratrol Analogues as Potential Agents in Treatment of Metabolic Disorders

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (35) ◽  
pp. 3776-3783
Author(s):  
Nebojša Pavlović ◽  
Maja Đanić ◽  
Bojan Stanimirov ◽  
Svetlana Goločorbin-Kon ◽  
Karmen Stankov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
In Silico ◽  
Metabolic Disorders ◽  
Partial Agonist ◽  
Aqueous Solubility ◽  
Structural Similarity ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
Binding Energies ◽  
Molegro Virtual Docker ◽  
Ppar Γ

Background: Resveratrol was demonstrated to act as partial agonist of PPAR-γ receptor, which opens up the possibility for its use in the treatment of metabolic disorders. Considering the poor bioavailability of resveratrol, particularly due to its low aqueous solubility, we aimed to identify analogues of resveratrol with improved pharmacokinetic properties and higher binding affinities towards PPAR-γ. Methods: 3D structures of resveratrol and its analogues were retrieved from ZINC database, while PPAR-γ structure was obtained from Protein Data Bank. Docking studies were performed using Molegro Virtual Docker software. Molecular descriptors relevant to pharmacokinetics were calculated from ligand structures using VolSurf+ software. Results: Using structural similarity search method, 56 analogues of resveratrol were identified and subjected to docking analyses. Binding energies were ranged from -136.69 to -90.89 kcal/mol, with 16 analogues having higher affinities towards PPAR-γ in comparison to resveratrol. From the calculated values of SOLY descriptor, 23 studied compounds were shown to be more soluble in water than resveratrol. However, only two tetrahydroxy stilbene derivatives, piceatannol and oxyresveratrol, had both better solubility and affinity towards PPAR-γ. These compounds also had more favorable ADME profile, since they were shown to be more metabolically stable and wider distributed in body than resveratrol. Conclusion: Piceatannol and oxyresveratrol should be considered as potential lead compounds for further drug development. Although experimental validation of obtained in silico results is required, this work can be considered as a step toward the discovery of new natural and safe drugs in treatment of metabolic disorders.

In Silico Studies on Anti-Stress Compounds of Ethanolic Root Extract of Hemidesmus indicus L.

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 502-515
Author(s):  
Jayasimha R. Daddam ◽  
Basha Sreenivasulu ◽  
Katike Umamahesh ◽  
Kotha Peddanna ◽  
Dowlathabad M. Rao
Keyword(s):  
Conventional Medicine ◽  
Herbal Medicines ◽  
Ethanolic Extract ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
Dynamics Simulation ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Root Extract ◽  
Hemidesmus Indicus ◽  
In Silico Studies

Background: Alternative medicine is available for those diseases which cannot be treated by conventional medicine. Ayurveda and herbal medicines are important alternative methods in which the treatment is done with extracts of different medicinal plants. This work is concerned with the evaluation of anti-stress bioactive compounds from the ethanolic root extract of Hemidesmus indicus. Methods: Gas chromatography and Mass Spectrum studies are used to identify the compounds present in the ethanolic extract based on the retention time, area. In order to perform docking studies, Vasopressin model is generated using modeling by Modeller 9v7. Vasopressin structure is developed based on the crystal structure of neurophysin-oxytocin from Bos taurus (PDB ID: 1NPO_A) collected from the PDB data bank. Using molecular dynamics simulation methods, the final predicted structure is obtained and further analyzed by verifying 3D and PROCHECK programs, confirmed that the final model is reliable. The identified compounds are docked to vasopressin for the prediction of anti-stress activity using GOLD 3.0.1 software. Results: The predicted model of Vasopressin structure is stabilized and confirmed that it is a reliable structure for docking studies. The results indicated ARG4, THR7, ASP9, ASP26, ALA32, ALA 80 in Vasopressin are important determinant residues in binding as they have strong hydrogen bonding with phytocompounds. Among the 21 phytocompounds identified and docked, molecule Deoxiinositol, pentakis- O-(trimethylsilyl) showed the best docking results with Vasopressin. Conclusion: The identified compounds were used for anti-stress activity by insilico method with Vasopressin which plays an important role in causing stress and hence selected for inhibitory studies with phytocompounds. The phytocompounds are inhibiting vasopressin through hydrogen bodings and are important in protein-ligand interactions. Docking results showed that out of twenty-one compounds, Deoxiinositol, pentakis-O-(trimethylsilyl) showed best docking energy to the Vasopressin.

scholarly journals Dimer Interface Organization is a Main Determinant of Intermonomeric Interactions and Correlates with Evolutionary Relationships of Retroviral and Retroviral-Like Ddi1 and Ddi2 Proteases

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1352 ◽  
Author(s):  
János András Mótyán ◽  
Márió Miczi ◽  
József Tőzsér
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Limited Proteolysis ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Evolutionary Relationships ◽  
Multiple Sequence ◽  
Dimer Interface ◽  
Viral Proteases ◽  
Eukaryotic Organisms

The life cycles of retroviruses rely on the limited proteolysis catalyzed by the viral protease. Numerous eukaryotic organisms also express endogenously such proteases, which originate from retrotransposons or retroviruses, including DNA damage-inducible 1 and 2 (Ddi1 and Ddi2, respectively) proteins. In this study, we performed a comparative analysis based on the structural data currently available in Protein Data Bank (PDB) and Structural summaries of PDB entries (PDBsum) databases, with a special emphasis on the regions involved in dimerization of retroviral and retroviral-like Ddi proteases. In addition to Ddi1 and Ddi2, at least one member of all seven genera of the Retroviridae family was included in this comparison. We found that the studied retroviral and non-viral proteases show differences in the mode of dimerization and density of intermonomeric contacts, and distribution of the structural characteristics is in agreement with their evolutionary relationships. Multiple sequence and structure alignments revealed that the interactions between the subunits depend mainly on the overall organization of the dimer interface. We think that better understanding of the general and specific features of proteases may support the characterization of retroviral-like proteases.

Immunotherapeutics for AD: A Work in Progress

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuja Sharma ◽  
Jaspreet Singh Anand ◽  
Yatender Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Tau Protein ◽  
Therapeutic Strategy ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
Therapeutic Strategies ◽  
Genetic Defects ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Neurodegenerative Process ◽  
Epigenetic Regulations

: Alzheimer's Disease (AD), often called the 'Plague of the 21st Century,' is a progressive, irreversible neurodegenerative disorder that leads to the degeneration and death of neurons. Multiple factors, such as genetic defects, epigenetic regulations, environmental factors, or cerebrovascular damage, are a manifestation of the neurodegenerative process that begins to occur decades before the onset of disease. To date, no treatment or therapeutic strategy has proven to be potent in inhibiting its progress or reversing the effects of the disease. The ever-increasing numbers and lack of sufficient therapies that can control or reverse the effects of the disease have propelled research in the direction of devising efficient therapeutic strategies for AD. This review comprehensively discusses the active and passive immunotherapies against Amyloid-β and Tau protein, which remain the popular choice of targets for AD therapeutics. Some of the prospective immunotherapies against Aβ plaques have failed due to various reasons. Much of the research is focused on targeting Tau, specifically, targeting the mid-region of extracellular Tau due to their potential to prevent seeding and hence the spread of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Thus, there is a need to thoroughly understand the disease onset mechanisms and discover effective therapeutic strategies.

scholarly journals MOLECULAR DOCKING STUDIES ON THE THERAPEUTIC TARGETS OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (AChE AND BChE) USING NATURAL BIOACTIVE ALKALOIDS

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Punabaka Jyothi ◽  
Kuna Yellamma
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Molecular Docking ◽  
Binding Affinity ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
Kcal Mole ◽  
Molecular Docking Studies

Objective: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with many cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms, is biochemically characterized by a significant decrease in the brain neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (ACh).Methods: In the present insilico study, six plant bioactive compounds namely Harmol, Vasicine, Harmaline, Harmine, Harmane and Harmalol (from P. Nigellastrum Bunge) were analyzed for their inhibitory role on AChE (Acetylcholinesterase) and BChE (Butyrylcholinesterase) activity by applying the molecular docking studies. Other parameters viz. determination of molecular interaction-based binding affinity values, protein-ligand interactions, Lipinski rule of five, functional properties and biological activities for the above compounds were also calculated by employing the appropriate bioinformatics tools.Results: The results of docking analysis clearly showed that Harmalol has highest binding affinity with AChE (-8.6 kcal/mole) and BChE (-8.0 kcal/mole) but it does not qualified the enzyme inhibitory activity, since it was exerted, and also has least percentage activity on AD and neurodegenerative disease. Whereas, the Harmine has been second qualified binding affinity (-8.4 kcal/mol) and first in other parameters when compared with Harmalol.Conclusion: Based on docking results and other parameters conducted, we are concluding that Harmine is the best compound for further studies to treat AD.Keywords: Alzheimer's disease (AD), Acetylcholinesterase, Butyrylcholinesterase, Lead Molecules

scholarly journals Natural Compound Modulates the Cervical Cancer Microenvironment—A Pharmacophore Guided Molecular Modelling Approaches

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailima Rampogu ◽  
Doneti Ravinder ◽  
Smita Pawar ◽  
Keun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Md Simulations ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Binding Modes ◽  
Cervical Cancer Cells ◽  
Causative Agents ◽  
Nitric Oxide Synthase 2 ◽  
Oxide Synthase

Cervical cancer is regarded as one of the major burdens noticed in women next to breast cancer. Although, human papilloma viruses (HPVs) are regarded as the principal causative agents, they require certain other factors such as oestrogen hormone to induce cervical cancer. Aromatase is an enzyme that converts androgens into oestrogens and hindering this enzyme could subsequently hamper the formation of oestrogen thereby alleviating the disease. Accordingly, in the current investigation, a structure based pharmacophore was generated considering two proteins bearing the Protein Data Bank (PDB) codes 3EQM (pharm 1) and 3S7S (pharm 2), respectively. The two models were employed as the 3D query to screen the in-house built natural compounds database. The obtained 51 compounds were escalated to molecular docking studies to decipher on the binding affinities and to predict the quintessential binding modes which were affirmed by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The compound has induced dose-dependent down regulation of PP2B, Nitric oxide synthase-2 (NOS2), and Interleukin 6 (IL-6) genes in the HeLa cells and has modulated the expression of apoptotic genes such as Bax, Bcl2, and caspases-3 at different concentrations. These results guide us to comprehend that the identified aromatase inhibitor was effective against the cervical cancer cells and additionally could server as scaffolds in designing new drugs.

AADVAC1, AN ACTIVE IMMUNOTHERAPY FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NON ALZHEIMER TAUOPATHIES: AN OVERVIEW OF PRECLINICAL AND CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
P. Novak ◽  
N. Zilka ◽  
M. Zilkova ◽  
B. Kovacech ◽  
R. Skrabana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Tau Protein ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Tau Proteins ◽  
Active Immunotherapy ◽  
Tau Pathology

Neurofibrillary tau protein pathology is closely associated with the progression and phenotype of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies, and a high-priority target for disease-modifying therapies. Herein, we provide an overview of the development of AADvac1, an active immunotherapy against tau pathology, and tau epitopes that are potential targets for immunotherapy. The vaccine leads to the production of antibodies that target conformational epitopes in the microtubule-binding region of tau, with the aim to prevent tau aggregation and spreading of pathology, and promote tau clearance. The therapeutic potential of the vaccine was evaluated in transgenic rats and mice expressing truncated, non mutant tau protein, which faithfully replicate of human tau pathology. Treatment with AADvac1 resulted in reduction of neurofibrillary pathology and insoluble tau in their brains, and amelioration of their deleterious phenotype. The vaccine was highly immunogenic in humans, inducing production of IgG antibodies against the tau peptide in 29/30 treated elderly patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s. These antibodies were able to recognise insoluble tau proteins in Alzheimer patients’ brains. Treatment with AADvac1 proved to be remarkably safe, with injection site reactions being the only adverse event tied to treatment. AADvac1 is currently being investigated in a phase 2 study in Alzheimer’s disease, and a phase 1 study in non-fluent primary progressive aphasia, a neurodegenerative disorder with a high tau pathology component.

scholarly journals Benchmarking Statistical Multiple Sequence Alignment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nute ◽  
Ehsan Saleh ◽  
Tandy Warnow
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Alignment ◽  
Multiple Sequence Alignment ◽  
Structural Alignment ◽  
Estimation Method ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Protein Sequences ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Sequence Alignments ◽  
Multiple Sequence ◽  
Simulated Data Sets

AbstractThe estimation of multiple sequence alignments of protein sequences is a basic step in many bioinformatics pipelines, including protein structure prediction, protein family identification, and phylogeny estimation. Statistical co-estimation of alignments and trees under stochastic models of sequence evolution has long been considered the most rigorous technique for estimating alignments and trees, but little is known about the accuracy of such methods on biological benchmarks. We report the results of an extensive study evaluating the most popular protein alignment methods as well as the statistical co-estimation method BAli-Phy on 1192 protein data sets from established benchmarks as well as on 120 simulated data sets. Our study (which used more than 230 CPU years for the BAli-Phy analyses alone) shows that BAli-Phy is dramatically more accurate than the other alignment methods on the simulated data sets, but is among the least accurate on the biological benchmarks. There are several potential causes for this discordance, including model misspecification, errors in the reference alignments, and conflicts between structural alignment and evolutionary alignments; future research is needed to understand the most likely explanation for our observations. multiple sequence alignment, BAli-Phy, protein sequences, structural alignment, homology

scholarly journals Effect of Harmine against Parkinson’s Disease Protein (PARK7) through Molecular Docking Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (VI) ◽  
pp. 5479-5485
Author(s):  
Love Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Molecular Docking ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
In Vivo Studies ◽  
Receptor Protein ◽  
Unknown Etiology

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common known neurodegenerative disorder with unknown etiology. It was estimated about 0.3% prevalence in the U.S population and enhance to 4 to 5% in older than 85 years. All studies were depending on the molecular docking where all ligands and protein PARK7 (PDB ID: 2RK3) were interacted by docked process. Some natural compounds was selected such as Harmine, Alloxan, Alpha spinasterol, Myrcene, and Vasicinone and PARK7 (PDB ID: 2RK3) protein. According to the PyRx and SWISS ADME result, Harmine was the only ligand which was showing minimum binding affinity. AutoDock Vina software was used for docking process between ligand (Harmine) and receptor protein PARK7 (PDB ID: 2RK3). The result was visualized under PyMol. Harmine was inhibiting the activity of PARK7 (PDB ID: 2RK3) and it may be used for the treatment of PD in future prospect after its in vitro and in vivo studies.

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