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Physapubescin, a natural withanolide as a kidney-type glutaminase (KGA) inhibitor
Li Cheng1, Can-Rong Wu2, Li-Han Zhu3
1Hubei Key Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Chemistry and Resource Evaluation, School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China; School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, Wuya College of Innovation, Key Laboratory of Structure-Based Drug Design & Discovery, Ministry of Education, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Kidney-type glutaminase (KGA) is over expressed in many kinds of cancers that converts glutamine to glutamate for supplying energy, and has become an object for targeted cancer therapy. The structure-based virtual ligand screening identified physapubescin, a withanolide purified from Physalis pubescens L., as a possible inhibitor of KGA with low binding energy. Enzyme inhibition experiments and cell-based assays further confirmed its inhibitory effects on KGA activity, suggesting potential applications of physapubescin and its derivatives as KGA inhibitors.
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