Computer-aided drug design of quinoxaline based selective oestrogen receptor α modulators for breast cancer therapy: molecular docking, MD simulation, MM-PBSA and ADME/T analysis.

Abstract

Oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is a driver of hormone-dependent breast cancer, yet current therapies are often hindered by drug resistance and adverse effects. In this study, we developed a structure-based virtual screening workflow to identify novel quinoxaline derivatives as computationally prioritized potential ERα modulators. The quinoxaline analogues obtained from PubChem are screened through validated docking model of ERα. The top-ranked candidates were further refined by MD simulations in GROMACS for 300 ns to assess complex stability and interaction persistence, followed by MM-PBSA binding free energy calculations to quantify binding energetics. The prioritized quinoxaline hits exhibited more favourable predicted docking scores than reference ligand, tamoxifen, while MD trajectory analyses indicated stable complex formation with sustained predicted interactions involving key ERα binding site residues. MM-PBSA highlights LIG3 as the most promising lead with a favourable energy (ΔG = -34.15 kcal/mol). Complementary ADMET profiling predicted favourable pharmacokinetic behaviour and low toxicity for the prioritized compounds. This integrated in silico strategy demonstrates that quinoxaline scaffolds, specifically LIG3, represent promising computationally prioritized templates for the further development and experimental evaluation of ERα targeted ligands. These findings provide a reliable computational framework for the prioritization and structural optimization of next-generation anti-breast cancer agents.