Scopy: an integrated negative design python library for desirable HTS/VS database design

ChemFH: an integrated tool for screening frequent false positives in chemical biology and drug discovery

High-throughput screening rapidly tests an extensive array of chemical compounds to identify hit compounds for specific biological targets in drug discovery. However, false-positive results disrupt hit compound screening, leading to wastage of time and resources. To address this, we propose ChemFH, an integrated online platform facilitating rapid virtual evaluation of potential false positives, including colloidal aggregators, spectroscopic interference compounds, firefly luciferase inhibitors, chemical reactive compounds, promiscuous compounds, and other assay interferences. By leveraging a dataset containing 823 391 compounds, we constructed high-quality prediction models using multi-task directed message-passing network (DMPNN) architectures combining uncertainty estimation, yielding an average AUC value of 0.91. Furthermore, ChemFH incorporated 1441 representative alert substructures derived from the collected data and ten commonly used frequent hitter screening rules. ChemFH was validated with an external set of 75 compounds. Subsequently, the virtual screening capability of ChemFH was successfully confirmed through its application to five virtual screening libraries. Furthermore, ChemFH underwent additional validation on two natural products and FDA-approved drugs, yielding reliable and accurate results. ChemFH is a comprehensive, reliable, and computationally efficient screening pipeline that facilitates the identification of true positive results in assays, contributing to enhanced efficiency and success rates in drug discovery. ChemFH is freely available via https://chemfh.scbdd.com/.

ADMETlab 3.0: an updated comprehensive online ADMET prediction platform enhanced with broader coverage, improved performance, API functionality and decision support

ADMETlab 3.0 is the second updated version of the web server that provides a comprehensive and efficient platform for evaluating ADMET-related parameters as well as physicochemical properties and medicinal chemistry characteristics involved in the drug discovery process. This new release addresses the limitations of the previous version and offers broader coverage, improved performance, API functionality, and decision support. For supporting data and endpoints, this version includes 119 features, an increase of 31 compared to the previous version. The updated number of entries is 1.5 times larger than the previous version with over 400 000 entries. ADMETlab 3.0 incorporates a multi-task DMPNN architecture coupled with molecular descriptors, a method that not only guaranteed calculation speed for each endpoint simultaneously, but also achieved a superior performance in terms of accuracy and robustness. In addition, an API has been introduced to meet the growing demand for programmatic access to large amounts of data in ADMETlab 3.0. Moreover, this version includes uncertainty estimates in the prediction results, aiding in the confident selection of candidate compounds for further studies and experiments. ADMETlab 3.0 is publicly for access without the need for registration at: https://admetlab3.scbdd.com.

Identification of a family of species-selective complex I inhibitors as potential anthelmintics

Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are major pathogens infecting over a billion people. There are few classes of anthelmintics and there is an urgent need for new drugs. Many STHs use an unusual form of anaerobic metabolism to survive the hypoxic conditions of the host gut. This requires rhodoquinone (RQ), a quinone electron carrier. RQ is not made or used by vertebrate hosts making it an excellent therapeutic target. Here we screen 480 structural families of natural products to find compounds that kill Caenorhabditis elegans specifically when they require RQ-dependent metabolism. We identify several classes of compounds including a family of species-selective inhibitors of mitochondrial respiratory complex I. These identified complex I inhibitors have a benzimidazole core and we determine key structural requirements for activity by screening 1,280 related compounds. Finally, we show several of these compounds kill adult STHs. We suggest these species-selective complex I inhibitors are potential anthelmintics.

Tackling assay interference associated with small molecules

Biochemical and cell-based assays are essential to discovering and optimizing efficacious and safe drugs, agrochemicals and cosmetics. However, false assay readouts stemming from colloidal aggregation, chemical reactivity, chelation, light signal attenuation and emission, membrane disruption, and other interference mechanisms remain a considerable challenge in screening synthetic compounds and natural products. To address assay interference, a range of powerful experimental approaches are available and in silico methods are now gaining traction. This Review begins with an overview of the scope and limitations of experimental approaches for tackling assay interference. It then focuses on theoretical methods, discusses strategies for their integration with experimental approaches, and provides recommendations for best practices. The Review closes with a summary of the critical facts and an outlook on potential future developments.

QuanDB: a quantum chemical property database towards enhancing 3D molecular representation learning

Previous studies have shown that the three-dimensional (3D) geometric and electronic structure of molecules play a crucial role in determining their key properties and intermolecular interactions. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a quantum chemical (QC) property database containing the most stable 3D geometric conformations and electronic structures of molecules. In this study, a high-quality QC property database, called QuanDB, was developed, which included structurally diverse molecular entities and featured a user-friendly interface. Currently, QuanDB contains 154,610 compounds sourced from public databases and scientific literature, with 10,125 scaffolds. The elemental composition comprises nine elements: H, C, O, N, P, S, F, Cl, and Br. For each molecule, QuanDB provides 53 global and 5 local QC properties and the most stable 3D conformation. These properties are divided into three categories: geometric structure, electronic structure, and thermodynamics. Geometric structure optimization and single point energy calculation at the theoretical level of B3LYP-D3(BJ)/6-311G(d)/SMD/water and B3LYP-D3(BJ)/def2-TZVP/SMD/water, respectively, were applied to ensure highly accurate calculations of QC properties, with the computational cost exceeding 107 core-hours. QuanDB provides high-value geometric and electronic structure information for use in molecular representation models, which are critical for machine-learning-based molecular design, thereby contributing to a comprehensive description of the chemical compound space. As a new high-quality dataset for QC properties, QuanDB is expected to become a benchmark tool for the training and optimization of machine learning models, thus further advancing the development of novel drugs and materials. QuanDB is freely available, without registration, at https://quandb.cmdrg.com/ .

Enhancing Multi-species Liver Microsomal Stability Prediction through Artificial Intelligence

Liver microsomal stability, a crucial aspect of metabolic stability, significantly impacts practical drug discovery. However, current models for predicting liver microsomal stability are based on limited molecular information from a single species. To address this limitation, we constructed the largest public database of compounds from three common species: human, rat, and mouse. Subsequently, we developed a series of classification models using both traditional descriptor-based and classic graph-based machine learning (ML) algorithms. Remarkably, the best-performing models for the three species achieved Matthews correlation coefficients (MCCs) of 0.616, 0.603, and 0.574, respectively, on the test set. Furthermore, through the construction of consensus models based on these individual models, we have demonstrated their superior predictive performance in comparison with the existing models of the same type. To explore the similarities and differences in the properties of liver microsomal stability among multispecies molecules, we conducted preliminary interpretative explorations using the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) and atom heatmap approaches for the models and misclassified molecules. Additionally, we further investigated representative structural modifications and substructures that decrease the liver microsomal stability in different species using the matched molecule pair analysis (MMPA) method and substructure extraction techniques. The established prediction models, along with insightful interpretation information regarding liver microsomal stability, will significantly contribute to enhancing the efficiency of exploring practical drugs for development.

AttentiveSkin: To Predict Skin Corrosion/Irritation Potentials of Chemicals via Explainable Machine Learning Methods

Skin Corrosion/Irritation (Corr./Irrit.) has long been a health hazard in the Globally Harmonized System (GHS). Several in silico models have been built to predict Skin Corr./Irrit. as an alternative to the increasingly restricted animal testing. However, current studies are limited by data amount/quality and model availability. To address these issues, we compiled a traceable consensus GHS data set comprising 731 Corr., 1283 Irrit., and 1205 negative (Neg.) samples from 6 governmental databases and 2 external data sets. Then, a series of binary classifiers were developed with five machine learning (ML) algorithms and six molecular representations. For 10-fold cross-validation, the best Corr. vs Neg. classifier achieved an Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) of 97.1%, while the best Irrit. vs Neg. classifier achieved an AUC of 84.7%. Compared with existing in silico tools on external validation, our Attentive FP classifiers showed the highest metrics on Corr. vs Neg. and the second highest accuracy on Irrit. vs Neg. The SHapley Additive exPlanation approach was further applied to figure out important molecular features, and the attention weights were visualized to perform interpretable prediction. Structural alerts associated with Skin Corr./Irrit. were also identified. The interpretable Attentive FP classifiers were integrated into the software AttentiveSkin at https://github.com/BeeBeeWong/AttentiveSkin. The conventional ML classifiers are also provided on our platform admetSAR at http://lmmd.ecust.edu.cn/admetsar2/. Considering the data deficiency and the limited model availability of Skin Corr./Irrit., we believe that our data set and models could facilitate chemical safety assessment and relevant studies.

Quantitative Predictive Studies of Multiple Biological Activities of TRPV1 Modulators

TRPV1 channel agonists and antagonists, which have powerful analgesic effects without the addictive qualities associated with traditional analgesics, have become a focus area for the development of novel analgesics. In this study, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models for three bioactive endpoints (Ki, IC50, and EC50) were successfully constructed using four machine learning algorithms: SVM, Bagging, GBDT, and XGBoost. These models were based on 2922 TRPV1 modulators and incorporated four types of molecular descriptors: Daylight, E-state, ECFP4, and MACCS. After the rigorous five-fold cross-validation and external test set validation, the optimal models for the three endpoints were obtained. For the Ki endpoint, the Bagging-ECFP4 model had a Q2 value of 0.778 and an R2 value of 0.780. For the IC50 endpoint, the XGBoost-ECFP4 model had a Q2 value of 0.806 and an R2 value of 0.784. For the EC50 endpoint, the SVM-Daylight model had a Q2 value of 0.784 and an R2 value of 0.809. These results demonstrate that the constructed models exhibit good predictive performance. In addition, based on the model feature importance analysis, the influence between substructure and biological activity was also explored, which can provide important theoretical guidance for the efficient virtual screening and structural optimization of novel TRPV1 analgesics. And subsequent studies on novel TRPV1 modulators will be based on the feature substructures of the three endpoints.

Screening of Prospective Antiallergic Compound as FcεRI Inhibitors and Its Antiallergic Efficacy Through Immunoinformatics Approaches

The occurrence of allergy, a type I hypersensitivity reaction, is rising exponentially all over the world. Sometimes, allergy proves to be fatal for atopic patients, due to the occurrence of anaphylaxis. This study is aimed to find an anti-allergic agent that can inhibit the binding of IgE to Human High Affinity IgE Receptor (FCεRI), thereby preventing the degranulation of mast cells. A considerable number of potential anti-allergic compounds were assessed for their inhibitory strength through ADMET studies. AUTODOCK was used for estimating the binding energy between anti-allergic compounds and FCεRI, along with the interacting amino acids. The docked pose showing favorable binding energy was subjected to molecular dynamics simulation study. Marrubiin, a diterpenoid lactone from Lamiaceae, and epicatechin-3-gallate appears to be effective in blocking the Human High Affinity IgE Receptor (FCεRI). This in-silico study proposes the use of marrubiin and epicatechin-3-gallate, in the downregulation of allergic responses. Due to the better inhibition constant, future direction of this study is to analyze the safety and efficacy of marrubiin in anti-allergic activities through in-vivo clinical human trials.

Bile Is a Selective Elevator for Mucosal Mechanics and Transport

Mucus mechanically protects the intestinal epithelium and impacts the absorption of drugs, with a largely unknown role for bile. We explored the impacts of bile on mucosal biomechanics and drug transport within mucus. Bile diffused with square-root-of-time kinetics and interplayed with mucus, leading to transient stiffening captured in Brillouin images and a concentration-dependent change from subdiffusive to Brownian-like diffusion kinetics within the mucus demonstrated by differential dynamic microscopy. Bile-interacting drugs, Fluphenazine and Perphenazine, diffused faster through mucus in the presence of bile, while Metoprolol, a drug with no bile interaction, displayed consistent diffusion. Our findings were corroborated by rat studies, where co-dosing of a bile acid sequestrant substantially reduced the bioavailability of Perphenazine but not Metoprolol. We clustered over 50 drugs based on their interactions with bile and mucin. Drugs that interacted with bile also interacted with mucin but not vice versa. This study detailed the dynamics of mucus biomechanics under bile exposure and linked the ability of a drug to interact with bile to its abbility to interact with mucus.

Discovery of novel TRPV1 modulators through machine learning-based molecular docking and molecular similarity searching

The transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) channel belongs to the transient receptor potential channel superfamily and participates in many physiological processes. TRPV1 modulators (both agonists and antagonists) can effectively inhibit pain caused by various factors and have curative effects in various diseases, such as itch, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the development of TRPV1 channel modulators is of great importance. In this study, the structure-based virtual screening and ligand-based virtual screening methods were used to screen compound databases respectively. In the structure-based virtual screening route, a full-length human TRPV1 protein was first constructed, three molecular docking methods with different precisions were performed based on the hTRPV1 structure, and a machine learning-based rescoring model by the XGBoost algorithm was constructed to enrich active compounds. In the ligand-based virtual screening route, the ROCS program was used for 3D shape similarity searching and the EON program was used for electrostatic similarity searching. Final 77 compounds were selected from two routes for in vitro assays. The results showed that 8 of them were identified as active compounds, including three hits with IC50 values close to capsazepine. In addition, one hit is a partial agonist with both agonistic and antagonistic activity. The mechanisms of some active compounds were investigated by molecular dynamics simulation, which explained their agonism or antagonism.

Chemical rules for optimization of chemical mutagenicity via matched molecular pairs analysis and machine learning methods

Chemical mutagenicity is a serious issue that needs to be addressed in early drug discovery. Over a long period of time, medicinal chemists have manually summarized a series of empirical rules for the optimization of chemical mutagenicity. However, given the rising amount of data, it is getting more difficult for medicinal chemists to identify more comprehensive chemical rules behind the biochemical data. Herein, we integrated a large Ames mutagenicity data set with 8576 compounds to derive mutagenicity transformation rules for reversing Ames mutagenicity via matched molecular pairs analysis. A well-trained consensus model with a reasonable applicability domain was constructed, which showed favorable performance in the external validation set with an accuracy of 0.815. The model was used to assess the generalizability and validity of these mutagenicity transformation rules. The results demonstrated that these rules were of great value and could provide inspiration for the structural modifications of compounds with potential mutagenic effects. We also found that the local chemical environment of the attachment points of rules was critical for successful transformation. To facilitate the use of these mutagenicity transformation rules, we integrated them into ADMETopt2 ( http://lmmd.ecust.edu.cn/admetsar2/admetopt2/ ), a free web server for optimization of chemical ADMET properties. The above-mentioned approach would be extended to the optimization of other toxicity endpoints.

Physicochemical Properties, Drug Likeness, ADMET, DFT Studies and in vitro antioxidant activity of Oxindole Derivatives

Poor pharmacokinetic and safety profiles create significant hurdles in the drug development process. This work focuses on a detailed understanding of drug discovery interplay among physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, toxicity endpoints, and antioxidant properties of oxindole derivatives. DFT compıutations were also performed at B3LYP/6-311G** level to evaluate the physicochemical properties, global reactivity features, and intramolecular interactions. The BOILED-Egg pharmacokinetic model envisaged gastrointestinal absorption, blood-brain barrier penetration, and no interaction with p-glycoprotein for compounds C1 and C2. The physicochemical evaluation revealed that C1 possesses superior drug-like properties fit for oral absorption. Both derivatives were predicted to have high plasma protein binding, efficient distribution, and inhibiting CYP 450 major isoforms but serve as substrates only for a few of them. Both molecules have mild to moderate clearance rates. Out of ten toxicity parameters, only hepatotoxicity was predicted. DFT results implied that the meta position of the -OH group made the possibility of charge transfer greater than -para positioned -OH, due to the ΔN_max (eV) values of molecules C1 and C2 being calculated at 2.596 and 2.477, respectively. Both C1 and C2 exhibited a concentration dependant DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity. The chemical structure-physicochemical-pharmacokinetic relationship identified the meta position as the favorite for the electron-withdrawing hydroxyl group. This provides useful insight to medicinal chemists to design 6-chlorooxindole derivatives with an acceptable drug-like and pharmacokinetic property.

Structural Analysis and Prediction of Hematotoxicity Using Deep Learning Approaches

Hematotoxicity has been becoming a serious but overlooked toxicity in drug discovery. However, only a few in silico models have been reported for the prediction of hematotoxicity. In this study, we constructed a high-quality dataset comprising 759 hematotoxic compounds and 1623 nonhematotoxic compounds and then established a series of classification models based on a combination of seven machine learning (ML) algorithms and nine molecular representations. The results based on two data partitioning strategies and applicability domain (AD) analysis illustrate that the best prediction model based on Attentive FP yielded a balanced accuracy (BA) of 72.6%, an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) value of 76.8% for the validation set, and a BA of 69.2%, an AUC of 75.9% for the test set. In addition, compared with existing filtering rules and models, our model achieved the highest BA value of 67.5% for the external validation set. Additionally, the shapley additive explanation (SHAP) and atom heatmap approaches were utilized to discover the important features and structural fragments related to hematotoxicity, which could offer helpful tips to detect undesired positive substances. Furthermore, matched molecular pair analysis (MMPA) and representative substructure derivation technique were employed to further characterize and investigate the transformation principles and distinctive structural features of hematotoxic chemicals. We believe that the novel graph-based deep learning algorithms and insightful interpretation presented in this study can be used as a trustworthy and effective tool to assess hematotoxicity in the development of new drugs.

Computational pharmacology and computational chemistry of 4-hydroxyisoleucine: Physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, and DFT-based approaches

Computational pharmacology and chemistry of drug-like properties along with pharmacokinetic studies have made it more amenable to decide or predict a potential drug candidate. 4-Hydroxyisoleucine is a pharmacologically active natural product with prominent antidiabetic properties. In this study, ADMETLab 2.0 was used to determine its important drug-related properties. 4-Hydroxyisoleucine is compliant with important drug-like physicochemical properties and pharma giants' drug-ability rules like Lipinski's, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) rules. Pharmacokinetically, it has been predicted to have satisfactory cell permeability. Blood-brain barrier permeation may add central nervous system (CNS) effects, while a very slight probability of being CYP2C9 substrate exists. None of the well-known toxicities were predicted in silico, being congruent with wet lab results, except for a "very slight risk" for respiratory toxicity predicted. The molecule is non ecotoxic as analyzed with common indicators such as bioconcentration and LC₅₀ for fathead minnow and daphnia magna. The toxicity parameters identified 4-hydroxyisoleucine as non-toxic to androgen receptors, PPAR-γ, mitochondrial membrane receptor, heat shock element, and p53. However, out of seven parameters, not even a single toxicophore was found. The density functional theory (DFT) study provided support to the findings obtained from drug-like property predictions. Hence, it is a very logical approach to proceed further with a detailed pharmacokinetics and drug development process for 4-hydroxyisoleucine.

Concepts and applications of chemical fingerprint for hit and lead screening

Molecular fingerprints are used to represent chemical (structural, physicochemical, etc.) properties of large-scale chemical sets in a low computational cost way. They have a prominent role in transforming chemical data sets into consistent input formats (bit strings or numeric values) suitable for in silico approaches. In this review, we summarize and classify common and state-of-the-art fingerprints into eight different types (dictionary based, circular, topological, pharmacophore, protein-ligand interaction, shape based, reinforced, and multi). We also highlight applications of fingerprints in early drug research and development (R&D). Thus, this review provides a guide for the selection of appropriate fingerprints of compounds (or ligand-protein complexes) for use in drug R&D.

Regulatory perspectives of combination products

Combination products with a wide range of clinical applications represent a unique class of medical products that are composed of more than a singular medical device or drug/biological product. The product research and development, clinical translation as well as regulatory evaluation of combination products are complex and challenging. This review firstly introduced the origin, definition and designation of combination products. Key areas of systematic regulatory review on the safety and efficacy of device-led/supervised combination products were then presented. Preclinical and clinical evaluation of combination products was discussed. Lastly, the research prospect of regulatory science for combination products was described. New tools of computational modeling and simulation, novel technologies such as artificial intelligence, needs of developing new standards, evidence-based research methods, new approaches including the designation of innovative or breakthrough medical products have been developed and could be used to assess the safety, efficacy, quality and performance of combination products. Taken together, the fast development of combination products with great potentials in healthcare provides new opportunities for the advancement of regulatory review as well as regulatory science.

Semi-automated workflow for molecular pair analysis and QSAR-assisted transformation space expansion

In the process of drug discovery, the optimization of lead compounds has always been a challenge faced by pharmaceutical chemists. Matched molecular pair analysis (MMPA), a promising tool to efficiently extract and summarize the relationship between structural transformation and property change, is suitable for local structural optimization tasks. Especially, the integration of MMPA with QSAR modeling can further strengthen the utility of MMPA in molecular optimization navigation. In this study, a new semi-automated procedure based on KNIME was developed to support MMPA on both large- and small-scale datasets, including molecular preparation, QSAR model construction, applicability domain evaluation, and MMP calculation and application. Two examples covering regression and classification tasks were provided to gain a better understanding of the importance of MMPA, which has also shown the reliability and utility of this MMPA-by-QSAR pipeline.

ADMETlab 2.0: an integrated online platform for accurate and comprehensive predictions of ADMET properties

Because undesirable pharmacokinetics and toxicity of candidate compounds are the main reasons for the failure of drug development, it has been widely recognized that absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) should be evaluated as early as possible. In silico ADMET evaluation models have been developed as an additional tool to assist medicinal chemists in the design and optimization of leads. Here, we announced the release of ADMETlab 2.0, a completely redesigned version of the widely used AMDETlab web server for the predictions of pharmacokinetics and toxicity properties of chemicals, of which the supported ADMET-related endpoints are approximately twice the number of the endpoints in the previous version, including 17 physicochemical properties, 13 medicinal chemistry properties, 23 ADME properties, 27 toxicity endpoints and 8 toxicophore rules (751 substructures). A multi-task graph attention framework was employed to develop the robust and accurate models in ADMETlab 2.0. The batch computation module was provided in response to numerous requests from users, and the representation of the results was further optimized. The ADMETlab 2.0 server is freely available, without registration, at https://admetmesh.scbdd.com/.

PySmash: Python package and individual executable program for representative substructure generation and application

BACKGROUND

Substructure screening is widely applied to evaluate the molecular potency and ADMET properties of compounds in drug discovery pipelines, and it can also be used to interpret QSAR models for the design of new compounds with desirable physicochemical and biological properties. With the continuous accumulation of more experimental data, data-driven computational systems which can derive representative substructures from large chemical libraries attract more attention. Therefore, the development of an integrated and convenient tool to generate and implement representative substructures is urgently needed.

RESULTS

In this study, PySmash, a user-friendly and powerful tool to generate different types of representative substructures, was developed. The current version of PySmash provides both a Python package and an individual executable program, which achieves ease of operation and pipeline integration. Three types of substructure generation algorithms, including circular, path-based and functional group-based algorithms, are provided. Users can conveniently customize their own requirements for substructure size, accuracy and coverage, statistical significance and parallel computation during execution. Besides, PySmash provides the function for external data screening.

CONCLUSION

PySmash, a user-friendly and integrated tool for the automatic generation and implementation of representative substructures, is presented. Three screening examples, including toxicophore derivation, privileged motif detection and the integration of substructures with machine learning (ML) models, are provided to illustrate the utility of PySmash in safety profile evaluation, therapeutic activity exploration and molecular optimization, respectively. Its executable program and Python package are available at https://github.com/kotori-y/pySmash.