Open AccessIn silico, in vitro, X-ray crystallography, and integrated strategies for discovering spermidine synthase inhibitors for Chagas disease
Author(s) -
Ryunosuke Yoshino,
Nobuaki Yasuo,
Yohsuke Hagiwara,
Takashi Ishida,
Daniel Ken Inaoka,
Y. Amano,
Y. Tateishi,
Kazuki Ohno,
Ichiji Namatame,
Tatsuya Niimi,
Masaya Orita,
Kiyoshi Kita,
Yutaka Akiyama,
Masakazu Sekijima
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-017-06411-9
Subject(s) - in silico , chagas disease , in vitro , spermidine , trypanosoma cruzi , putrescine , drug discovery , enzyme , atp synthase , biochemistry , biology , chemistry , computational biology , virology , parasite hosting , computer science , world wide web , gene
Chagas disease results from infection by Trypanosoma cruzi and is a neglected tropical disease (NTD). Although some treatment drugs are available, their use is associated with severe problems, including adverse effects and limited effectiveness during the chronic disease phase. To develop a novel anti-Chagas drug, we virtually screened 4.8 million small molecules against spermidine synthase (SpdSyn) as the target protein using our super computer “TSUBAME2.5” and conducted in vitro enzyme assays to determine the half-maximal inhibitory concentration values. We identified four hit compounds that inhibit T . cruzi SpdSyn (TcSpdSyn) by in silico and in vitro screening. We also determined the TcSpdSyn–hit compound complex structure using X-ray crystallography, which shows that the hit compound binds to the putrescine-binding site and interacts with Asp171 through a salt bridge.