Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery
Leishmaniasis is a group of neglected infectious diseases, with approximately 1. 3 million new cases each year, for which the available therapies have serious limitations. Therefore, it is extremely important to apply efficient and low-cost methods capable of selecting the best therapeutic targets t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Chemistry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.607139/full |
| _version_ | 1823943534707736576 |
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| author | Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos Antonio Mauro Rezende Antonio Mauro Rezende |
| author_facet | Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos Antonio Mauro Rezende Antonio Mauro Rezende |
| author_sort | Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Leishmaniasis is a group of neglected infectious diseases, with approximately 1. 3 million new cases each year, for which the available therapies have serious limitations. Therefore, it is extremely important to apply efficient and low-cost methods capable of selecting the best therapeutic targets to speed up the development of new therapies against those diseases. Thus, we propose the use of integrated computational methods capable of evaluating the druggability of the predicted proteomes of Leishmania braziliensis and Leishmania infantum, species responsible for the different clinical manifestations of leishmaniasis in Brazil. The protein members of those proteomes were assessed based on their structural, chemical, and functional contexts applying methods that integrate data on molecular function, biological processes, subcellular localization, drug binding sites, druggability, and gene expression. These data were compared to those extracted from already known drug targets (BindingDB targets), which made it possible to evaluate Leishmania proteomes for their biological relevance and treatability. Through this methodology, we identified more than 100 proteins of each Leishmania species with druggability characteristics, and potential interaction with available drugs. Among those, 31 and 37 proteins of L. braziliensis and L. infantum, respectively, have never been tested as drug targets, and they have shown evidence of gene expression in the evolutionary stage of pharmacological interest. Also, some of those Leishmania targets showed an alignment similarity of <50% when compared to the human proteome, making these proteins pharmacologically attractive, as they present a reduced risk of side effects. The methodology used in this study also allowed the evaluation of opportunities for the repurposing of compounds as anti-leishmaniasis drugs, inferring potential interaction between Leishmania proteins and ~1,000 compounds, of which only 15 have already been tested as a treatment for leishmaniasis. Besides, a list of potential Leishmania targets to be tested using drugs described at BindingDB, such as the potential interaction of the DEAD box RNA helicase, TRYR, and PEPCK proteins with the Staurosporine compound, was made available to the public. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T08:00:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-72293eb490ad4155873421565cef9ae0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2646 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T08:00:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Chemistry |
| spelling | doaj.art-72293eb490ad4155873421565cef9ae02022-12-21T21:57:34ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Chemistry2296-26462021-04-01910.3389/fchem.2021.607139607139Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug DiscoveryCrhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos0Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos1Antonio Mauro Rezende2Antonio Mauro Rezende3Bioinformatics Plataform, Microbiology Department, Instituto Aggeu Magalhães, Recife, BrazilPosgraduate Program in Genetics, Genetics Department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, BrazilBioinformatics Plataform, Microbiology Department, Instituto Aggeu Magalhães, Recife, BrazilPosgraduate Program in Genetics, Genetics Department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, BrazilLeishmaniasis is a group of neglected infectious diseases, with approximately 1. 3 million new cases each year, for which the available therapies have serious limitations. Therefore, it is extremely important to apply efficient and low-cost methods capable of selecting the best therapeutic targets to speed up the development of new therapies against those diseases. Thus, we propose the use of integrated computational methods capable of evaluating the druggability of the predicted proteomes of Leishmania braziliensis and Leishmania infantum, species responsible for the different clinical manifestations of leishmaniasis in Brazil. The protein members of those proteomes were assessed based on their structural, chemical, and functional contexts applying methods that integrate data on molecular function, biological processes, subcellular localization, drug binding sites, druggability, and gene expression. These data were compared to those extracted from already known drug targets (BindingDB targets), which made it possible to evaluate Leishmania proteomes for their biological relevance and treatability. Through this methodology, we identified more than 100 proteins of each Leishmania species with druggability characteristics, and potential interaction with available drugs. Among those, 31 and 37 proteins of L. braziliensis and L. infantum, respectively, have never been tested as drug targets, and they have shown evidence of gene expression in the evolutionary stage of pharmacological interest. Also, some of those Leishmania targets showed an alignment similarity of <50% when compared to the human proteome, making these proteins pharmacologically attractive, as they present a reduced risk of side effects. The methodology used in this study also allowed the evaluation of opportunities for the repurposing of compounds as anti-leishmaniasis drugs, inferring potential interaction between Leishmania proteins and ~1,000 compounds, of which only 15 have already been tested as a treatment for leishmaniasis. Besides, a list of potential Leishmania targets to be tested using drugs described at BindingDB, such as the potential interaction of the DEAD box RNA helicase, TRYR, and PEPCK proteins with the Staurosporine compound, was made available to the public.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.607139/fulldrug repurposingprotein interaction networkdrug targetsleishmaniasisLeishmania |
| spellingShingle | Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos Crhisllane Rafaele dos Santos Vasconcelos Antonio Mauro Rezende Antonio Mauro Rezende Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery Frontiers in Chemistry drug repurposing protein interaction network drug targets leishmaniasis Leishmania |
| title | Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery |
| title_full | Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery |
| title_fullStr | Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery |
| title_full_unstemmed | Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery |
| title_short | Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery |
| title_sort | systematic in silico evaluation of leishmania spp proteomes for drug discovery |
| topic | drug repurposing protein interaction network drug targets leishmaniasis Leishmania |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.607139/full |
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