A computational approach using bioinformatics to screening drug targets for leishmania infantum species

• Autor(a) principal: Miguel Angel Chávez Fumagalli
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Mônica Santos Schneider, Daniela Pagliara Lage, Grasiele de Sousa Vieira Tavares, Débora Vasconcelos Costa Mendonça, Thaís Teodoro de Oliveira Santos, Rodrigo Maia de Pádua, Ricardo Andrez Machado de Ávila, João Paulo Viana Leite, Eduardo Antônio Ferraz Coelho
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFMG
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/6813467; http://hdl.handle.net/1843/56649; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8394-4802; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8710-9265; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5055-4915; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4807-0457; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9939-6900; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1303-0490; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3747-4424; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6681-9014
• topic: Leishmaniasis; Leishmania infantum; Amastigotes; Promastigotes; Bioinformatics; Strychnobifavone; Leishmaniose; Leishmania infantum; Biologia computacional

Background: The development of new therapeutic strategies to treat patients for leishmaniasis has become a priority. The antileishmanial activity of the strychnobifavone favonoid was recently demonstrated against Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania infantum amastigotes and promastigotes. The biological efect of this molecule was identifed due to its capacity to interfere in the parasite mitochondrial membrane; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Methods and Results: In this study, a computational approach using bioinformatics was performed to screen biological targets of strychnobifavone in L. infantum. Computational programs, such as the target fshing approach and molecular docking assays, were used. Results showed that the putative pathway targeted by strychnobifavone in L. infantum is the methylglyoxal degradation superpathway, and one hydrolase-like protein was predicted to be the molecular target of this favonoid in the parasites. Conclusion: In this context, this study provides the basis for understanding the mechanism of action of strychnobifavone in L. infantum and presents a strategy based on bioinformatics programs to screen targets of other molecules with biological action against distinct pathogens.