RESUMO
Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a neglected tropical disease caused by the protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi, affecting nearly 7 million people only in the Americas. Polyamines are essential compounds for parasite growth, survival, and differentiation. However, because trypanosomatids are auxotrophic for polyamines, they must be obtained from the host by specific transporters. In this investigation, an ensemble of QSAR classifiers able to identify polyamine analogs with trypanocidal activity was developed. Then, a multi-template homology model of the dimeric polyamine transporter of T. cruzi, TcPAT12, was created with Rosetta, and then refined by enhanced sampling molecular dynamics simulations. Using representative snapshots extracted from the trajectory, a docking model able to discriminate between active and inactive compounds was developed and validated. Both models were applied in a parallel virtual screening campaign to repurpose known drugs as anti-trypanosomal compounds inhibiting polyamine transport in T. cruzi. Montelukast, Quinestrol, Danazol, and Dutasteride were selected for in vitro testing, and all of them inhibited putrescine uptake in biochemical assays, confirming the predictive ability of the computational models. Furthermore, all the confirmed hits proved to inhibit epimastigote proliferation, and Quinestrol and Danazol were able to inhibit, in the low micromolar range, the viability of trypomastigotes and the intracellular growth of amastigotes.
Assuntos
Doença de Chagas , Tripanossomicidas , Trypanosoma cruzi , Humanos , Putrescina/uso terapêutico , Ligantes , Danazol/uso terapêutico , Quinestrol/uso terapêutico , Poliaminas/química , Poliaminas/uso terapêutico , Doença de Chagas/tratamento farmacológico , Doença de Chagas/parasitologia , Proteínas de Membrana Transportadoras/uso terapêutico , Tripanossomicidas/farmacologia , Tripanossomicidas/químicaRESUMO
Trypanosoma cruzi carbonic anhydrase (TcCA) has recently emerged as an interesting target for the design of new compounds to treat Chagas disease. In this study we report the results of a structure-based virtual screening campaign to identify novel and selective TcCA inhibitors. The combination of properly validated computational methodologies such as comparative modelling, molecular dynamics and docking simulations allowed us to find high potency hits, with KI values in the nanomolar range. The compounds also showed trypanocidal effects against T. cruzi epimastigotes and trypomastigotes. All the candidates are selective for inhibiting TcCA over the human isoform CA II, which is encouraging in terms of possible therapeutic safety and efficacy.
Assuntos
Inibidores da Anidrase Carbônica/farmacologia , Anidrases Carbônicas/metabolismo , Doença de Chagas/tratamento farmacológico , Ciclamatos/farmacologia , Tripanossomicidas/farmacologia , Inibidores da Anidrase Carbônica/síntese química , Inibidores da Anidrase Carbônica/química , Doença de Chagas/metabolismo , Ciclamatos/síntese química , Ciclamatos/química , Relação Dose-Resposta a Droga , Avaliação Pré-Clínica de Medicamentos , Humanos , Modelos Moleculares , Estrutura Molecular , Testes de Sensibilidade Parasitária , Relação Estrutura-Atividade , Tripanossomicidas/síntese química , Tripanossomicidas/química , Trypanosoma cruzi/efeitos dos fármacos , Trypanosoma cruzi/enzimologiaRESUMO
Chagas disease is a neglected tropical disease endemic to Latin America, though migratory movements have recently spread it to other regions. Here, we have applied a cascade virtual screening campaign combining ligand- and structure-based methods. In order to find novel inhibitors of putrescine uptake in Trypanosoma cruzi, an ensemble of linear ligand-based classifiers obtained by has been applied as initial screening filter, followed by docking into a homology model of the putrescine permease TcPAT12. 1,000 individual linear classifiers were inferred from a balanced dataset. Subsequently, different schemes were tested to combine the individual classifiers: MIN operator, average ranking, average score, average voting, with MIN operator leading to the best performance. The homology model was based on the arginine/agmatine antiporter (AdiC) from Escherichia coli as template. It showed 64% coverage of the entire query sequence and it was selected based on the normalized Discrete Optimized Protein Energy parameter and the GA341 score. The modeled structure had 96% in the allowed area of Ramachandran's plot, and none of the residues located in non-allowed regions were involved in the active site of the transporter. Positivity Predictive Value surfaces were applied to optimize the score thresholds to be used in the ligand-based virtual screening step: for that purpose Positivity Predictive Value was charted as a function of putative yields of active in the range 0.001-0.010 and the Se/Sp ratio. With a focus on drug repositioning opportunities, DrugBank and Sweetlead databases were subjected to screening. Among 8 hits, cinnarizine, a drug frequently prescribed for motion sickness and balance disorder, was tested against T. cruzi epimastigotes and amastigotes, confirming its trypanocidal effects and its inhibitory effects on putrescine uptake. Furthermore, clofazimine, an antibiotic with already proven trypanocidal effects, also displayed inhibitory effects on putrescine uptake. Two other hits, meclizine and butoconazole, also displayed trypanocidal effects (in the case of meclizine, against both epimastigotes and amastigotes), without inhibiting putrescine uptake.