Understanding microscopic binding of human microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 with substrates and inhibitors by molecular modeling and dynamics simulation

Microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) is a promising target for development of next-generation anti-inflammatory drugs. It is crucial for rational design of the next-generation anti-inflammatory drugs to know the three-dimensional (3D) structure of mPGES-1 trimer and to understand how mPGES-1 binds with substrates and inhibitors. In the current work, a 3D structural model of human mPGES-1 trimer has been developed, for the first time, by performing combined homology modeling, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation. The 3D structural model enables us to understand how mPGES-1 binds with its substrates/inhibitors, and the key amino acid residues for the mPGES-1 binding with ligands have been identified. The detailed 3D structures and calculated binding free energies for mPGES-1's binding with substrates and inhibitors are all consistent with available experimental data, suggesting that the 3D model of the mPGES-1 trimer and the enzyme-ligand binding modes are reasonable. The new structural insights obtained from this study should be valuable for rational design of next-generation anti-inflammatory drugs.