• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.147-155
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• 2017

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) is an enzyme responsible for the initial step in the base excision repair pathway and is known to be a potential drug target for treating cancers, because its expression is associated with resistance to DNA-damaging anticancer agents. Although several inhibitors already have been identified, the identification of novel kinds of potential inhibitors of APE1 could provide a seed for the development of improved anticancer drugs. For this purpose, we first classified known inhibitors of APE1. According to the classification, we constructed two distinct pharmacophore models. We screened more than 3 million lead-like compounds using the pharmacophores. Hits that fulfilled the features of the pharmacophore models were identified. In addition to the pharmacophore screen, we carried out molecular docking to prioritize hits. Based on these processes, we ultimately identified 1,338 potential inhibitors of APE1 with predicted binding affinities to the enzyme.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2015

Chemoattractant receptor homologous molecule expressed on Th2 cells (CRTh2) is a G-protein coupled receptor targeted for inflammatory diseases such as asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis. In this study, pharmacophore modeling and comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) were performed on the series of 2-(2-(benzylthio)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-1-yl) acetic acids derivatives. Five highly active compounds were used for generation of pharmacophore models using GASP module. The best pharmacophore model was selected and used as template for the alignment of compounds which was used for CoMFA analysis. The best predictions obtained for CoMFA was $q^2=0.545$, $r^2=0.756$. The predictive ability of the model was investigated using 15 test set compounds. Contour maps suggested that presence of bulky substituents at $5^{th}$ position of benzene ring connected to suphur atoms attached to imidazol ring will increase the activity of the compounds. The results obtained from this study will be useful to design more potent CRTh2 antagonists.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.99-103
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• 2013

The present communication deals with the Pharmacophore modeling, 3D QSAR and docking analysis on series of Pyrimidine derivatives as potential calcium channel blockers. The computational studies showed hydrogen bond donor, hydrogen bond acceptor, and hydrophobic group are important features for calcium channel blocking activity. These studies showed that Pyrimidine scaffold can be utilized for designing of novel calcium channels blockers for CVS disorders.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.182-188
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• 1996

Early attempts to identify plausible conformations of a linear octapeptide hormone, angiotensin-II (Asp-Arg-Val-Tyr-Ile-His-Pro-Phe), using various theoretical and experimental methods, have led to various conformational models. So far, no consensus has been made about the solution phase structure and the receptor binding structure of angiotensin-II. The ultimate goal for the conformation study of the peptide hormone is to develop a new potent drug. Therefore, we have devised a strategy for designing the pharmacophore by studying thermodynamically possible conformations of various kinds of angiotensin-II antagonists and angiotensin-II.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.647-655
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• 2008

Microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase (mPGES-1) is a potent target for pain and inflammation. Various QSAR (quantitative structure activity relationship) analyses used to understand the factors affecting inhibitory potency for a series of MK886 analogues. We derived four QSAR models utilizing various quantum mechanical (QM) descriptors. These QM models indicate that steric, electrostatic and hydrophobic interaction can be important factors. Common pharmacophore hypotheses (CPHs) also have studied. The QSAR model derived by best-fitted CPHs considering hydrophobic, negative group and ring effect gave a reasonable result (q2 = 0.77, r2 = 0.97 and Rtestset = 0.90). The pharmacophore-derived molecular alignment subsequently used for 3D-QSAR. The CoMFA (Comparative Molecular Field Analysis) and CoMSIA (Comparative Molecular Similarity Indices Analysis) techniques employed on same series of mPGES-1 inhibitors which gives a statistically reasonable result (CoMFA; q2 = 0.90, r2 = 0.99. CoMSIA; q2 = 0.93, r2 = 1.00). All modeling results (QM-based QSAR, pharmacophore modeling and 3D-QSAR) imply steric, electrostatic and hydrophobic contribution to the inhibitory activity. CoMFA and CoMSIA models suggest the introduction of bulky group around ring B may enhance the inhibitory activity.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.869-880
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• 2012

Identification of the selective chemical features for Aurora-B inhibitors gained much attraction in drug discovery for the treatment of cancer. Hence to identify the Aurora-B critical features various techniques were utilized such as pharmacophore generation, virtual screening, homology modeling, molecular dynamics, and docking. Top ten hypotheses were generated for Aurora-B and Aurora-A. Among ten hypotheses, HypoB1 and HypoA1 were selected as a best hypothesis for Aurora-B and Aurora-A based on cluster analysis and ranking score, respectively. Test set result revealed that ring aromatic (RA) group in HypoB1 plays an essential role in differentiates Aurora-B from Aurora-A inhibitors. Hence, HypoB1 used as 3D query in virtual screening of databases and the hits were sorted out by applying drug-like properties and molecular docking. The molecular docking result revealed that 15 hits have shown strong hydrogen bond interactions with Ala157, Glu155, and Lys106. Hence, we proposed that HypoB1 might be a reasonable hypothesis to retrieve the structurally diverse and selective leads from various databases to inhibit Aurora-B.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.561-566
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• 2007

Adenosine kinase (AK) is a ubiquitous intracellular enzyme, which catalyzes the phosphorylation of adenosine (ADO) to adenosine monophosphate (AMP). AK inhibitors have therapeutic potential as analgesic and antiinflammatory agents. A chemical feature based pharmacophore model has been generated from known AK inhibitors (26 training set compounds) by HypoGen module implemented in CATALYST software. The top ranked hypothesis (Hypo1) contained four features of two hydrogen-bond acceptors (HBA) and two hydrophobic aromatics (Z). Hypo1 was validated by 124 test set molecules with a correlation coefficient of 0.905 between experimental and estimated activity. It was also validated by CatScramble method. Thus, the Hypo1 was exploited for searching new lead compounds over 238,819 chemical compounds in NCI database and then the selected compounds were screened based on restriction estimated activity and Lipinski's rules to evaluate their drug-like properties. Finally we could obtain 72 new lead candidates and the two best compound structures from them were posted.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.363-373
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• 2010

Computational studies were carried out on the opiates morphine, heroin, codeine, pentazocine, and buprenorphine, under the density functional theory. The geometric parameters of the pharmacophore and substituents were evaluated at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level of theory. The electronic structure calculations were performed using the same hybrid functional at the B3LYP/6-311++G (d,p) level of theory. The atomic charges were obtained by Mulliken population analysis. Given the reported biological activity, calculated partition coefficients, and electronic and geometric analysis, pentazocine and buprenorphine were chosen as models for proposed analogues. These analogues were then studied and compared with the model molecules. The study reveals that the geometry and electronic structure of the pharmacophore remains consistent in the presence of different substituents. Because the proposed analogues preserve the studied properties of the model molecules, it is likely that these analogues display biological activity.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.3333-3340
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• 2010

A three dimensional pharmacophore model was generated for the molecules which are responsible for anti-inflammatory activities targeting Interleukin-2 inducible tyrosine kinase (Itk). 16 structurally diverse molecules were selected as training set to generate the hypotheses using Discovery Studio v2.1. The best hypothesis, Hypo1, comprises two hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA), one hydrophobic aromatic (HA), one ring aromatic (RA) and shows high cost difference (63.71), high correlation coefficient (0.97) as well as low RMS deviation (0.81). Hypo1 has been further validated toward a test set, decoy set and Fischer's randomization method. Furthermore, Hypo1 was used to screen NCI and Maybridge databases. Finally, 2 hit molecules were identified as potential leads against Itk, which may be useful for future drug development.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.17.1-17.12
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• 2023

Coronavirus has left severe health impacts on the human population, globally. Still a significant number of cases are reported daily as no specific medications are available for its effective treatment. The presence of the CD147 receptor (human basigin) on the host cell facilitates the severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Therefore, the drugs that efficiently alter the formation of CD147 and spike protein complex could be the right drug candidate to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2. Hence, an e-Pharmacophore model was developed based on the receptor-ligand cavity of CD147 protein which was further mapped against pre-existing drugs of coronavirus disease treatment. A total of seven drugs were found to be suited as pharmacophores out of 11 drugs screened which was further docked with CD147 protein using CDOCKER of Biovia discovery studio. The active site sphere of the prepared protein was 101.44, 87.84, and 97.17 along with the radius being 15.33 and the root-mean-square deviation value obtained was 0.73 Å. The protein minimization energy was calculated to be -30,328.81547 kcal/mol. The docking results showed ritonavir as the best fit as it demonstrated a higher CDOCKER energy (-57.30) with correspond to CDOCKER interaction energy (-53.38). However, authors further suggest in vitro studies to understand the potential activity of the ritonavir.