2,4,6-Trimethoxy chalcone derivatives: an integrated study for redesigning novel chemical entities as anticancer agents through QSAR, molecular docking, ADMET prediction, and computational simulation

QSAR, an efficient and successful approach for optimizing lead compounds in drug design, was employed to study a reported series of compounds derived from 2,4,6-trimethoxy chalcone derivatives. The ability of these compounds to inhibit CDK1 was examined, with the help of QSARINS software for model development. The generated QSAR model revealed three significant descriptors, exhibiting strong correlations with impressive statistical values: cross-validation leave-one-out correlation coefficient (Q2LOO) = 0.6663, coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.7863, external validation coefficient (R2ext) = 0.7854, cross-validation leave-many-out correlation coefficient (Q2LMO) = 0.6256, Concordance Correlation Coefficient for cross-validation (CCCcv) = 0.8150, CCCtr = 0.8804, and CCCext = 0.8750. From the key structural findings and the insights gained from the descriptors, ETA_dPsi_A, WTPT-5, and GATS7s, new lead molecules were designed. The designed molecules were then evaluated for their CDK1 inhibitory activity using the three-descriptor model developed in this study. To evaluate their drug likeliness, in-silico ADMET predictions were made using Schrodinger's Software. Molecular docking was carried out to determine the interactions of designed compounds with the target protein. The designed compounds having excellent binding pocket molecular stability and anticancer effectiveness was substantiated by the findings of the molecular dynamics simulation. The results of this work point out important properties and crucial interactions necessary for efficient protein inhibition, suggesting lead candidates for further development as novel anticancer agents.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Anti-Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Activity Evaluation of Natural Derived Phloroglucinol Derivatives and Their Molecular Mechanisms Study

HSV-1 is a common infection that can cause cold sores. In this study, the anti-HSV-1 virus activity of three series compounds A1-A9, B1-B12, C1-C22 was screened by MTT assay, qRT-PCR assay, Western blot assay and viruses' plaque assays. The results of MTT assay disclosed that phloroglucinol derivatives C2 and C3 effectively inhibited the death of HSV-1 infected vero cells with the CC50 values of C2 and C3 were 72.64 μmol/L and 32.62 μmol/L in HaCaT cells, 137.6 μmol/L and 48.55 μmol/L in Hela cells. The IC50 values of C3 in vero cells and Hela cells were 19.26 μmol/L and 22.98 μmol/L, respectively. In the qRT-PCR experiments, it showed that C2 and C3 effectively reduced the synthesis of HSV-1 early viral gene VP16 and late viral gene gD. The Western blot results showed that both C2 and C3 inhibited the expression of HSV-1 gD protein in a concentration-dependent manner. Lastly, viruses' plaque assay results showed that C2 and C3 inhibited the production of HSV-1 progeny virus in Hela cells and HaCaT cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Taken together, these results suggest that C2 and C3 are promising candidate that warrants further attention in the development of anti-HSV-1 drugs.

In-silico studies of 2-aminothiazole derivatives as anticancer agents by QSAR, molecular docking, MD simulation and MM-GBSA approaches

Targeting Hec1/Nek2 is considered as crucial target for cancer treatment due to its significant role in cell proliferation. In pursuit of this, a series of twenty-five 2-aminothiazoles derivatives, along with their Hec1/Nek2 inhibitory activities were subjected to QSAR studies utilizing QSARINS software. The significant three descriptor QSAR model was generated, showing noteworthy statistical parameters: a correlation coefficient of cross validation leave one out (Q2LOO) = 0.7965, coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.8436, (R2ext) = 0.6308, cross validation leave many out (Q2LMO) = 0.7656, Concordance Correlation Coefficient (CCCCV = 0.8875), CCCtr = 0.9151, and CCCext = 0.0.7241. The descriptors integral to generated QSAR model include Moreau-Broto autocorrelation, which represents the spatial autocorrelation of a property along the molecular graph's topological structure (ATSC1i), Moran autocorrelation at lag 8, which is weighted by charges (MATS8c) and RPSA representing the total molecular surface area. It was noted that these descriptors significantly influence Hec1/Nek2 inhibitory activity of 2-aminothiazoles derivatives. New lead molecules were designed and predicted for their Hec1/Nek2 inhibitory activity based on the developed three descriptor model. Further, the ADMET and Molecular docking studies were carried out for these designed molecules. The three molecules were selected based on their docking score and further subjected for MD simulation studies. Post-MD MM-GBSA analysis were also performed to predicted the free binding energies of molecules. The study helped us to understand the key interactions between 2-aminothiazoles derivatives and Hec1/Nek2 protein that may be necessary to develop new lead molecules against cancer.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Synthesis, Characterization and Bioactivity Evaluation of a Novel Nano Bagasse Xylan/Andrographolide Grafted and Esterified Derivative

In the in-depth research that has been conducted on nanometer biomaterials, how to use the biomass resources with high activity and low toxicity to prepare nanomaterials for biomedical applications has attracted much attention. To realize efficient and comprehensive utilization of biomass, bagasse xylan/andrographolide (BX/AD) was ued as a raw material and glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) as an esterification agent to synthesize bagasse xylan/andrographolide esterified derivative (GA-BX/AD). Then, the bagasse xylan/andrographolide grafted and esterified derivative (GA-BX/AD-g-IA) was synthesized by the graft crosslinking reactions using itaconic acid (IA) as graft monomer. The better synthesis conditions were optimized by single factor experiments, the degree of esterification substitution (DS) was 0.43, and the grafting rate (G) of the product reached 42%. The structure and properties of the product were characterized by FTIR, XRD, DTG, SEM, and ¹H NMR. The results showed that the product morphology was significantly changed, and the nanoparticles were spherical with a particle size of about 100 nm. The anti-cancer activity of the product was measured. The molecular docking simulations revealed that the product had good docking activity with human glucocorticoid protein (6CFN) with a binding free energy of 14.38 kcal/mol. The MTT assay showed that the product had a strong inhibitory effect on the growth of human liver cancer cells (BEL-7407) and gastric cancer cells (MGC80-3), with inhibition ratio of 38.41 ± 5.32% and 32.69 ± 4.87%. Therefore, this nanomaterial is expected to be applied to the development and utilization of drug carriers and functional materials.