In silico Repurposing of Anticancer Drug (5-Fluorouracil) as an Antibacterial Agent against Klebsiella pneumoniae

Background: Infections caused by drug resistant microorganisms have been increasing worldwide thereby being one of the major causes of morbidity in the 21st century. Klebsiella pneumoniae is one such bacteria causing lung inflammation, lung injury and death. Emergence of hyper-virulent and drug resistant species such as ESBL and CRKP has made this microbe a serious and urgent threat. The pace of emergence of these species is outgrowing the development of novel drug and vaccine candidates thereby focusing on drug repurposing approach. Objective: 1. Homology Modelling of Thymidylate Synthase. 2. Verification of Modelled Structure. 3. Molecular Docking. 4. Molecular Dynamic Simulation of Docked Complex. 5. In vitro analysis of 5-FU activity against Klebsiella pneumonia. Method: The 3-D structure of Thymidylate Synthase was predicted using Swiss-Model server and validated by in silico approaches. - Determination protein-protein interactions using STRING database. - Molecular docking. - MD simulations of 5-FU with predicted structure of thymidylate synthase. - In vitro antimicrobial drug sensitivity assay at different concentrations. Result: Hydrogen bond was observed in Molecular Docking - Protein-ligand complex remains stable during simulation. - 5-FU shows antimicrobial activity against Klebsiella pneumonia during In vitro study. Conclusion: Both In silico as well as in vitro analysis have indicated that 5-FU can potentially be developed as an antimicrobial agent towards Klebsiella pneumonia