Drug repurposing for schistosomiasis: molecular docking and dynamics investigations

Schistosomiasis is a neglected disease of considerable health importance in tropical and subtropical regions. Its treatment relies on the use of praziquantel or oxamniquine but there are reported cases of treatment failures due to resistance or tolerance. Again, derivatives of praziquantel and oxamniquine have not shown significant activities than their parent compounds. The study predicted approved drugs with possible antischistosomal activities. Four schistosomal drug targets were obtained from Protein Data Bank and six hundred and twelve (612) approved drugs including their isomers were selected based on their Molinspiration® bioscore similarities with reference compounds (praziquantel, oxamniquine, [(2S,3S,4S,5S,6S)-3,4,5-triacetyloxy-6-sulfanyloxan-2-yl] methyl acetate, [propylamino-3-hydroxy-buta-1,4-dionyl]-isoleucylproline). The selected drugs and drug targets were obtained and prepared for molecular docking simulations. The molecular docking simulations were performed using AutoDockvina^®-1.1.2 after validation of docking protocols while molecular dynamics simulations were performed with GROMACS-4.5.5. The binding energies were calculated using MMPBSA (Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area). Tolmetin was predicted as potential antischistosomal drug with binding energies of -231.064 ± 18.550 and -338.636 ± 36.900 KJ/mol for sulfotransferase and thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) respectively. Also diflunisal was predicted as potential antischistosomal drug with binding energies of -168.641 ± 20.370 and -290.117 ± 43.800 KJ/mol for sulfotransferase and TGR respectively. Non-covalent interactions and conformational changes were responsible for molecular recognitions and specificities and average bond measurement showed that carboxylic functional groups in diflunisal and tolmetin may interact covalently with -SH group of Cys159 in TGR. Confirmation of covalent interactions and in vitro validations are recommended.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.