基于MOE软件的本科生专业综合实验项目设计——耐药性金黄色葡萄球菌FtsZ抑制剂的虚拟筛选与验证

以耐药性金黄色葡萄球菌细丝温度敏感蛋白Z(FtsZ)抑制剂的虚拟筛选为例，在食品类专业综合实验课程教学中借助MOE软件，基于分子对接原理方法从花椒活性小分子库中筛选细菌FtsZ蛋白靶向抑制剂。通过配体小分子数据库的建立、受体蛋白质处理、对接参数设置、筛选结果评价和活性验证等内容，帮助学生系统掌握基于分子对接的活性分子虚拟初筛和活性验证工作流程，降低学生理解分子抑菌机制的难度，增强对跨学科交叉研究新手段的认识，拓展研究方法和创新能力。     

整合药效团及共价对接用于虚拟筛选JAK3抑制剂

大量研究表明JAK3与炎症疾病的发生、发展具有密切的关系,使得JAK3成为一个极具潜力的药物靶点。其中,JAK3共价抑制剂因其选择性高、活性强的特点受到广泛关注。但是,JAK3与其家族的其他成员同源性高,使得开发JAK3选择性抑制剂充满挑战。计算机虚拟筛选方法可以在分子水平对JAK3的结构特征进行针对性筛选,但是传统的共价对接方法效率较低、准确度欠佳,因此本文提出了一种结合药效团和共价对接的虚拟筛选策略。该联用方法从DrugBank数据库成功地筛选出已报道的JAK3临床抑制剂,表明了这种虚拟筛选不仅具有较高的效率,同时具备了较强的筛选准确性,为JAK3共价抑制剂的虚拟筛选提供一定的指导作用。     

蛋白质-蛋白质分子对接中打分函数研究进展

分子对接是研究分子间相互作用与识别的有效方法.其中,用于近天然构象挑选的打分函数的合理设计对于对接中复合物结构的成功预测至关重要.本文回顾了蛋白质-蛋白质分子对接组合打分函数中一些主要打分项,包括几何互补项、界面接触面积、范德华相互作用能、静电相互作用能以及统计成对偏好势等打分项的计算方法.结合本研究小组的工作,介绍了目前普遍使用的打分方案以及利用与结合位点有关的信息进行结构筛选的几种策略,比较并总结了常用打分函数的特点.最后,分析并指出了当前蛋白质-蛋白质对接打分函数所存在的主要问题,并对未来的工作进行了展望.     

分子对接在药物虚拟筛选中的应用进展

虚拟筛选是药物设计的重要手段之一,利用小分子化合物与药物靶标间的分子对接运算,研究人员可以准确地获取两者之间的相互作用情况,从候选化合物库中快速筛选出潜在的药物或药物前体,从而加速药物开发过程。介绍了虚拟筛选与分子对接的相关原理与流程,主要综述了对药物进行虚拟筛选时所涉及的分子对接技术类型、常见的分子对接软件以及分子对接典型样例。分子对接对提高虚拟筛选的效率、降低药物开发的成本具有重要的现实意义。     

毒蕈碱型M1受体的同源模建和分子对接

采用同源模建方法对M1受体的三维结构进行了模拟, 将得到的模型分别与M受体完全激动剂乙酰胆碱和M1受体选择性激动剂占诺美林进行分子对接, 形成非特异性激动和特异性激动的受体-配体复合物. 用分子动力学模拟方法分别将未与小分子对接的M1受体、M1受体-乙酰胆碱复合物、M1受体-占诺美林复合物置于磷脂双膜中模拟10 ns. 将模拟后的蛋白质结构与包含活性分子的测试库对接并将结果打分, 以top5%富集因子(EF)作为评价依据, 用占诺美林优化后的M1受体模型的EF为8.0, 用乙酰胆碱优化后M1受体模型的EF为6.5, 非复合物的EF为1.5. 说明M1受体选择性激动剂复合物进行分子动力学模拟后得到的三维结构模型比较合理, 可以作为化合物虚拟筛选的模型对新化合物进行虚拟筛选, 为找到新的选择性M1受体激动剂奠定了基础.     

毒蕈碱型M1受体的同源模建和分子对接

采用同源模建方法对M1受体的三维结构进行了模拟,将得到的模型分别与M受体完全激动剂乙酰胆碱和M1受体选择性激动剂占诺美林进行分子对接,形成非特异性激动和特异性激动的受体-配体复合物.用分子动力学模拟方法分别将未与小分子对接的M1受体、M1受体-乙酰且H碱复合物、M1受体-占诺美林复合物置于磷脂双膜中模拟10 ns.将模拟后的蛋白质结构与包含活性分子的测试库对接并将结果打分,以top5%富集因子(EF)作为评价依据,用占诺美林优化后的M1受体模型的EF为8.0,用乙酰胆碱优化后M1受体模型的EF为6.5,非复合物的EF为1.5.说明M1受体选择性激动剂复合物进行分子动力学模拟后得到的三维结构模型比较合理,可以作为化合物虚拟筛选的模型对新化合物进行虚拟筛选,为找到新的选择性M1受体激动剂奠定了基础.     

基于虚拟筛选策略发现新型潜在JAK3小分子抑制剂

利用已知活性的分子采用基于配体的策略构建药效团模型,通过基于类药规则、药效团模型、多种精度的分子对接算法、MM/GBSA结合能预测以及ADMET筛选手段对含约250万个分子的数据库进行虚拟筛选。发现5种JAK3抑制剂的新型骨架,其中6个以1-苯基咪唑烷-2-酮为骨架的分子在与JAK3激酶的结合能以及分子的ADMET性质评价方面均表现优异,具备高JAK3抑制剂潜力,被认为是虚拟筛选的命中分子。     

基于分子描述符和机器学习方法预测和虚拟筛选乳腺癌靶向蛋白HEC1抑制剂

HEC1(癌症高表达蛋白)是纺锤体检查点控制、着丝粒功能、细胞存活的关键的有丝分裂调节器,与原发性乳腺癌的不良预后有关.筛选具有高亲和力的HEC1新型抑制剂对探索乳腺癌的靶向治疗具有重要意义.本文从结构多样性的化合物库中筛选HEC1抑制剂.通过对分子描述符的特征筛选,采用支持向量机(SVM)和随机森林(RF)方法分别对HEC1抑制剂和非抑制剂建立了分类模型.经对比, RF模型显示了更好的预测精度.我们采用RF模型对HEC1抑制剂进行了虚拟筛选,从“in-house”实体库筛选得到2个潜在的HEC1抑制剂分子.随后对筛出的化合物进行了体外活性实验,发现对乳腺癌细胞株MDA-MB-468和MDA-MB-231均有一定程度的抗肿瘤活性.研究结果表明,机器学习方法对于设计和虚拟筛选HEC1抑制剂有良好的效果.     

基于他克林的乙酰胆碱酯酶抑制剂的3D-QSAR研究及虚拟筛选

本文通过对58个他克林派生物乙酰胆碱酯酶抑制剂分子进行建模分析,研究其结构与活性的关系,并通过虚拟筛选方法获得一系列潜在AChE抑制剂双位点分子。首先将一系列他克林二联体化合物与AChE晶体结构对接,获得化合物的活性构象,以此进行建模分析,建立结构与活性之间的三维定量构效关系。所得模型CoMFA、CoMSIA、TopomerCoMFA的交叉验证系数分别为0.510、0.702、0.571,非交叉验证系数为0.998、0.988、0.794,测试集r_(pred)~2为0.750、0.742、0.766,所得模型具有良好的预测性,由此可以为设计高活性的新分子提供理论基础。然后,使用Topomer search对ZINC数据库中的125909分子进行虚拟筛选,得到891个具有潜在AChE抑制活性的分子。最后,对这891个分子进行分子对接,观察分子与晶体结构的结合情况,筛选得到66个具有高选择性的双位点AChE抑制剂分子。     

R基团筛选技术用于吡啶杂环类mTOR抑制剂的分子设计研究

针对27个吡啶杂环类抑制剂采用Topomer COMFA方法进行了三维定量构效关系分析,新建模型的拟合、交互验证及外部验证的复相关系数分别为r2=0.982,q2=0.857,r2pred=0.829,结果表明模型具有良好的预测能力和可信度.采用基于R基团搜索Topomer Search技术对ZINC数据库进行R基团的虚拟筛选,获得了6个高活性的新抑制剂分子,其预测活性均优于训练集中活性最高分子.运用Surflex-dock分子对接法研究吡啶杂环类抑制剂与mTOR靶点的作用模式.研究结果表明,Topomer search可有效地用于分子设计,结合分子对接结果,新抑制剂分子为mTOR靶向药物设计提供参考.     

Identification of Novel TRPC5 Inhibitors by Pharmacophore-Based and Structure-Based Approaches

Canonical transient receptor potential-5 (TRPC5), which belongs to the subfamily of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, is a non-selective cation channel mainly expressed in the central nervous system and shows more restricted expression in the periphery. TRPC5 plays a crucial role in human physiology and pathology, for instance, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, pain, memory and chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, due to lack of the effective and selective inhibitors, its physiological and pathological mechanism remains so far unknown. It is therefore pivotal to identify potential TRPC5 inhibitors. We have applied ligand-based virtual screening (LBVS) and structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) methods. The pharmacophore models of TRPC5 antagonists generated by using the HypoGen and HipHop algorithms were used as a query model for the screening of potential inhibitors against the Specs database. The resultant hits from LBVS were further screened by SBVS. SBVS was carried out based on the homology model generation of human TRPC5, binding site identification, molecular dynamics optimization and molecular docking studies. In our systematic screening approaches, we have identified 7 hits compounds with comparable dock score after Lipinski and Veber rules, ADMET, PAINS analysis, cluster analysis, and similarity analysis. In conclusion, the current research provides novel backbones for the new-generation of TRPC5 inhibitors.     

Molecular modeling studies to discover novel mIDH2 inhibitors with high selectivity for the primary and secondary mutants

Mutant isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (mIDH2) is an emerging target for the treatment of cancer. AG-221 is the first mIDH2 inhibitor approved by the FDA for acute myeloid leukemia treatment, but its acquired resistance has recently been observed, necessitating the development of new inhibitor. In this study, a multi-step virtual screening protocol was employed for the analysis of a large database of compounds to identify potential mIDH2 inhibitors. To this end, we firstly utilized molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and binding free energy calculations to elucidate the key factors affecting ligand binding and drug resistance. Based on these findings, the receptor-ligand interaction-based pharmacophore (IBP) model and hierarchical docking-based virtual screening were sequentially carried out to assess 212,736 compounds from the Specs database. The resulting hits were finally ranked by PAINS filter and ADME prediction and the top compounds were obtained. Among them, six molecules were identified as mIDH2 putative inhibitors with high selectivity by interacting with the capping residue Asp312. Furthermore, subsequent docking and MD experiments demonstrated that compound V2 might have potential inhibitory activity against the AG-221-resistant mutants, thereby making it a promising lead for the development of novel mIDH2 inhibitors.     

Retrospective docking study of PDE4B ligands and an analysis of the behavior of selected scoring functions

Scoring forms a major obstacle to the success of any docking study. In general, fast scoring functions perform poorly when used to determine the relative affinity of ligands for their receptors. In this study, the objective was not to rank compounds with confidence but simply to identify a scoring method which could provide a 4-fold hit enrichment in a screening sample over random selection. To this end, LigandFit, a fast shape matching docking algorithm, was used to dock a variety of known inhibitors of type 4 phosphodiesterase (PDE4B) into its binding site determined crystallographically for a series of pyrazolopyridine inhibitors. The success of identifying good poses with this technique was explored through RMSD comparisons with 19 known inhibitors for which crystallographic structures were available. The effectiveness of five scoring functions (PMF, JAIN, PLP2, LigScore2, and DockScore) was then evaluated through consideration of the success in enriching the top ranked fractions of nine artificial databases, constructed by seeding 1980 inactive ligands (pIC50 < 5) with 20 randomly selected inhibitors (pIC50 > 6.5). PMF and JAIN showed high average enrichment factors (greater than 4 times) in the top 5-10% of the ranked databases. Rank-based consensus scoring was then investigated, and the rational combination of 3 scoring functions resulted in more robust scoring schemes with (cScore)-DPmJ (consensus score of DockScore, PMF, and JAIN) and (cScore)-PPmJ (PLP2, PMF, and JAIN) yielding particularly good results. These cScores are believed to be of greater general application. Finally, the analysis of the behavior of the scoring functions across different chemotypes uncovered the inherent bias of the docking and scoring toward compounds in the same structural family as that employed for the crystal structure, suggesting the need to use multiple versions of the binding site for more successful virtual screening strategies.     

Improving VEGFR-2 docking-based screening by pharmacophore postfiltering and similarity search postprocessing

Conventional docking-based virtual screening (VS) of chemical databases is based on the ranking of compounds according to the values retrieved by a scoring function (typically, the binding affinity estimation). However, using the most suitable scoring function for each kind of receptor pocket is not always an effective process to rank compounds, and sometimes neither to distinguish between correct binding modes from incorrect ones. To improve actives from decoys selection, here we propose a three-step VS protocol, which includes the conventional docking step, a pharmacophore postfilter step, and a similarity search postprocess. This VS protocol is retrospectively applied to VEGFR-2 (Kdr-kinase) inhibitors. The resulting docking poses calculated using the Alpha HB scoring function implemented in MOE are postfiltered according to defined pharmacophore interactions (structure based). The selected poses are again ranked according to their molecular similarity (MACCS fingerprint) to the cognate ligand. Results show that both the overall and early VS performance improve the application of this protocol.     

Normalizing molecular docking rankings using virtually generated decoys

Drug discovery research often relies on the use of virtual screening via molecular docking to identify active hits in compound libraries. An area for improvement among many state-of-the-art docking methods is the accuracy of the scoring functions used to differentiate active from nonactive ligands. Many contemporary scoring functions are influenced by the physical properties of the docked molecule. This bias can cause molecules with certain physical properties to incorrectly score better than others. Since variation in physical properties is inevitable in large screening libraries, it is desirable to account for this bias. In this paper, we present a method of normalizing docking scores using virtually generated decoy sets with matched physical properties. First, our method generates a set of property-matched decoys for every molecule in the screening library. Each library molecule and its decoy set are docked using a state-of-the-art method, producing a set of raw docking scores. Next, the raw docking score of each library molecule is normalized against the scores of its decoys. The normalized score represents the probability that the raw docking score was drawn from the background distribution of nonactive property-matched decoys. Assuming that the distribution of scores of active molecules differs from the nonactive score distribution, we expect that the score of an active compound will have a low probability of having been drawn from the nonactive score distribution. In addition to the use of decoys in normalizing docking scores, we suggest that decoy sets may be a useful tool to evaluate, improve, or develop scoring functions. We show that by analyzing docking scores of library molecules with respect to the docking scores of their virtually generated property-matched decoys, one can gain insight into the advantages, limitations, and reliability of scoring functions.     

Improving molecular docking through eHiTS’ tunable scoring function

We present three complementary approaches for score-tuning that improve docking performance in pose prediction, virtual screening and binding affinity assessment. The methodology utilizes experimental data to customize the scoring function for the system of interest considering the specific docking scenario. The tuning approach, which has been implemented as an automated utility in eHiTS, is introduced as a solution to one of the conundrums of the molecular docking paradigm, namely, the lack of a universally well performing scoring function. The accuracy of scoring functions has been shown to be generally system-dependent, and particularly lacking for binding energy and bio-activity predictions. In the proposed approach, pose and energy predictions are enhanced by adjusting the relative weights of the eHiTS energy terms to improve score-RMSD or score-affinity correlations. In a virtual screening context ligand-based similarity is used to rescale the docking score such that better enrichment factors are achieved. We discuss the algorithmic details of the methods, and demonstrate the effects of score tuning on a variety of targets, including CDK2, BACE1 and neuraminidase, as well as on the popular benchmarks—the Directory of Useful Decoys and the PDBBind database.     

Evaluation of potential inhibitors of squalene synthase based on virtual screening and in vitro studies

Squalene synthase (SQS) is a potential target for hyperlipidemia treatment. To identify novel chemical scaffolds of SQS inhibitors, we generated 3D-QSAR pharmacophore models using HypoGen. The best quantitative pharmacophore model, Hypo 1, was selected for virtual screening using two chemical databases, Specs and Traditional Chinese Medicine database (TCM). The best-mapped hit compounds were then subjected to filtering by Lipinski^’s rule of five and docking studies to refine the hits. Finally, five compounds were selected from the top-ranked hit compounds for SQS inhibitory assay in vitro. Three of these compounds could inhibit SQS in vitro, and should be further evaluated pre-clinically as a treatment for hyperlipidemia.     

Discovery of novel Pim-1 kinase inhibitors by a hierarchical multistage virtual screening approach based on SVM model, pharmacophore, and molecular docking

In this investigation, we describe the discovery of novel potent Pim-1 inhibitors by employing a proposed hierarchical multistage virtual screening (VS) approach, which is based on support vector machine-based (SVM-based VS or SB-VS), pharmacophore-based VS (PB-VS), and docking-based VS (DB-VS) methods. In this approach, the three VS methods are applied in an increasing order of complexity so that the first filter (SB-VS) is fast and simple, while successive ones (PB-VS and DB-VS) are more time-consuming but are applied only to a small subset of the entire database. Evaluation of this approach indicates that it can be used to screen a large chemical library rapidly with a high hit rate and a high enrichment factor. This approach was then applied to screen several large chemical libraries, including PubChem, Specs, and Enamine as well as an in-house database. From the final hits, 47 compounds were selected for further in vitro Pim-1 inhibitory assay, and 15 compounds show nanomolar level or low micromolar inhibition potency against Pim-1. In particular, four of them were found to have new scaffolds which have potential for the chemical development of Pim-1 inhibitors.     

Virtual Screening of Human O-GlcNAc Transferase Inhibitors

O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) is one of essential mammalian enzymes, which catalyze the transfer of N-acetylglucosamine from UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) to hydroxyl groups of serines and threonines (Ser/Thr) in proteins. Dysregulations of cellular O-GlcNAc have been implicated in diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer, which brings great interest in developing potent and speci c small-molecular OGT inhibitors. In this work, we performed virtual screening on OGT catalytic site to identify potential inhibitors. 7134792 drug-like compounds from ZINC (a free database of commercially available compounds for virtual screening) and 4287550 compounds generated by FOG (fragment optimized growth program) were screened and the top 116 compounds ranked by docking score were analyzed. By comparing the screening results, we found FOG program can generate more compounds with better docking scores than ZINC. The top ZINC compounds ranked by docking score were grouped into two classes, which held the binding positions of UDP and GlcNAc of UDPGlcNAc. Combined with individual fragments in binding pocket, de novo compounds were designed and proved to have better docking score. The screened and designed compounds may become a starting point for developing new drugs.     

Investigation of MM-PBSA rescoring of docking poses

Target-based virtual screening is increasingly used to generate leads for targets for which high quality three-dimensional (3D) structures are available. To allow large molecular databases to be screened rapidly, a tiered scoring scheme is often employed whereby a simple scoring function is used as a fast filter of the entire database and a more rigorous and time-consuming scoring function is used to rescore the top hits to produce the final list of ranked compounds. Molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM-PBSA) approaches are currently thought to be quite effective at incorporating implicit solvation into the estimation of ligand binding free energies. In this paper, the ability of a high-throughput MM-PBSA rescoring function to discriminate between correct and incorrect docking poses is investigated in detail. Various initial scoring functions are used to generate docked poses for a subset of the CCDC/Astex test set and to dock one set of actives/inactives from the DUD data set. The effectiveness of each of these initial scoring functions is discussed. Overall, the ability of the MM-PBSA rescoring function to (i) regenerate the set of X-ray complexes when docking the bound conformation of the ligand, (ii) regenerate the X-ray complexes when docking conformationally expanded databases for each ligand which include "conformation decoys" of the ligand, and (iii) enrich known actives in a virtual screen for the mineralocorticoid receptor in the presence of "ligand decoys" is assessed. While a pharmacophore-based molecular docking approach, PhDock, is used to carry out the docking, the results are expected to be general to use with any docking method.