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The occurrence of growth of systemic infections has been the cause of great concern worldwide. The therapeutic options currently available are limited, and are divided into four groups, Polyenes (amphotericin B), fluoropyrimidines (flucitosine), Azoles (ketoconazole, fluconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole and voriconazole) and Echinocandins (caspofungin, micafungin and anidulafungin. Furthermore, this is observed of resistance to antifungal agents such as amphotericin B and azoles, leading to the need of development of new antifungal agents. Currently, the research and drug development, consume much time and it have high risks. The planning based on structure and mechanism of action has proven to be an efficient and less expensive strategy for development of new drugs. In this context, in preliminar results obtained by the group using in silico analysis identified four possible target genes which are present in seven relevant human pathogenic fungi and absent in the human genome. Among these target genes Kre2 or Mnt1 is responsible to encode a protein of approximately 49 kDa, the α 1,2 mannosyltransferase. This is an important protein for cell viability and virulence of the pathogen within the host. Besides the selection of ten candidate genes, our group identified using in silico methods of molecular modeling and virtual screening 17 compounds of low molecular weight (small molecules) that potentially have the ability to inhibit the enzyme α 1,2 mannosyltransferase (KRE2) of P. lutzii. Of the 17 molecules selected, one highlighted out in susceptibility tests against fungi of medical importance and was called molecule 3. With in vitro inhibition tests promising, the need to evaluate if in fact this molecule is able to specifically inhibit the molecular target KRE2 of P. lutzii emerged. The results obtained in this study point to the success in getting this protein in heterologous expression system in Pichia pastoris. Once this system performs glycosylation of proteins, it allows the correct folding of the target enzyme, favoring the necessary conditions to continue the experiments. Reasonable amounts of protein were produced heterologously, allowing the tests to determine the kinetic parameters and enzyme inhibition tests using the molecule 3 against the target KRE2 P. lutzii. Using labeled substrate [14C] in the reactions, apparent Km of KRE2 of P. lutzii was determined, which reached 3.7 pM, demonstrating the high affinity of the enzyme for the substrate in comparison to data in the literature. Similarly, the enzymatic inhibition tests used the radioactive isotope and the molecule 3 was used against enzymes KRE2 of P. lutzii and MNT1 of Candida albicans. The results obtained for KRE2 of P. lutzii demonstrated that in the presence of the inhibitor molecule, was observed a reduction in the enzymatic activity by 60%. However, reduction of the enzymatic activity of MNT1 of Candida albicans was 20%. It is necessary to point out that the molecule 3 shows solubility issues, additional susceptibility testing against species of Candida spp. using Pluronic F-127 linked to molecule3 were carried out by our group with promising results. Thus, the improvement of the solubility of the molecule 3 represented an advance in vitro inhibition tests, which increases the expectation of better MIC90 for other fungi of medical importance. The results presented in this work represents an advancement in the validation of the molecule 3 as an inhibitor of KRE2 of P. lutzii, which may contribute to important data for the development of new drugs for the treatment of fungal infections of global relevance.

Expressão e caracterização bioquímica de uma α-1,2 manosiltransferase recombinante de Paracoccidioides lutzii