Discovery of novel natural compounds for inhibiting JNK signaling in cancer: Multi-step virtual screening, MM-GBSA calculations, and molecular dynamics simulations

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Gezira, Gezira, Sudan

2 General Medicine Practice Program, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah 21442, Saudi Arabia

3 Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Hospital-Al Madinah Al Munawarah-NGHA, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Al Madinah Al Munawarah 41511, Saudi Arabia

4 Faculty of Dentistry, British University, El Sherouk City, Suez Desert Road, Cairo 11837, Egypt

5 Pharmaceutical Care Services, King Salman Medical City, MOH, Al Madinah Al Munawwarah 11176, Saudi Arabia

6 Department of Natural Products and Alternative Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

7 Anesthesia Department, King Fahad hospital, MOH, Al Madinah Al Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

8 Preparatory Year Program, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah 21442, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Human c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK1) is a cytosolic kinase within the mitogen-activated protein kinase family, pivotal in intracellular signal transduction cascades. Overexpression of JNK1 implicated in various cancers. Despite some JNK1 inhibitors progressing to clinical trials, none have gained market approval, underscoring the urgent need for new candidates. Computer-aided drug design lowers the expenses and time required for drug development. Rough estimates indicate that computational processes take less than one-third of the usual time and cost. This research employs diverse in silico screening methods to rapidly identify inhibitors for JNK1 associated with cancer. Specifically, we employed pharmacophore modeling on the bound ligand of JNK1 protein to identify essential pharmacophoric features crucial for discovering potential inhibitors. These features were screened against 449,008 natural compounds sourced from the SN3 database. The identified compounds underwent docking and MM-GBSA calculations. Two compounds (SN0239242 and SN0263268) exhibited superior MM-GBSA binding affinity compared to the bound ligand, with values of -69.22, -62.2, and -57.68 kcal/mol, respectively. These compounds were subjected to 100 ns molecular dynamics experiments and exhibited stable interactions. Natural compounds from these in silico studies showed promising anticancer potential as JNK1 inhibitors and could be prioritized for future experimental validation.

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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 September 2024
  • Receive Date: 14 June 2024
  • Revise Date: 07 September 2024
  • Accept Date: 10 September 2024