High-throughput virtual screening of phloroglucinol derivatives against HIV-reverse transcriptase

Therapeutic agents exert their pharmacological and adverse effects by interacting with molecular targets. Even if drug molecules are intended to interact with specific targets in a desirable manner, they are often found to bind to other targets. Nowadays, research is focused on a single molecule that simultaneously targets multiple disease-causing proteins. Therefore, off-target identification of existing chemical space can be a valuable tool to find safe and effective multi-targeted therapeutic agents at a significantly lower cost to patients. Phloroglucinols represent a class of compounds, which exhibits a diverse range of biological activities, such as anti-HIV, antimalarial, antileishmanial, antituberculosis, antibacterial, and antifungal. The aim of the current study is to explore untapped potential of various series of phloroglucinols against HIV reverse transcriptase (HIV-RTase). A series of filtering parameters was applied in search of viable phloroglucinol derivatives against HIV-RTase. A library of phloroglucinol derivatives was screened based on their toxicity potential followed by predicted ADME parameters. The filtered compounds were then carried forward for docking analysis against HIV-RTase. A set of 37 phloroglucinol compounds with diverse pharmacological profile was found to have good binding affinity towards HIV-RTase. These molecules formed hydrogen bonds with Lys101, Lys103, Val106, and Leu234 residues and π–π stacking interaction with Tyr318 residue of the protein. Here, we propose potential phloroglucinol derivatives with different known biological activity that can be repurposed as potential hits against HIV.