Y K Zhang, J B Tong, M X Luo, J Y Zhao, Y L Yang, Y Sun, Z P Qing
{"title":"Identification, experimental validation, and computational evaluation of potential ALK inhibitors through hierarchical virtual screening.","authors":"Y K Zhang, J B Tong, M X Luo, J Y Zhao, Y L Yang, Y Sun, Z P Qing","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2496155","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2496155","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) plays a pivotal oncogenic role in the onset and progression of malignancies such as non-small cell lung cancer, lymphoma, and neuroblastoma. ALK gene mutations or rearrangements significantly enhance tumour cell proliferation and survival. However, the emergence of resistance to existing ALK inhibitors in clinical settings remains a major challenge. Consequently, the development of next-generation inhibitors targeting ALK-resistant mutations has become a central focus in the field of anticancer drug discovery. In this study, a hierarchical virtual screening strategy based on protein structure was utilized to screen 87,454 ligand conformations from 50,000 compounds in the Topscience drug-like database. Structural clustering analysis and ADMET drug-likeness predictions led to the identification of two potential ALK inhibitors, F6524-1593 and F2815-0802. Subsequent activity validation, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations elucidated their potential binding modes and mechanisms of action. This study provides valuable theoretical insights for the development of novel ALK inhibitors targeting drug-resistant mutations and offers guidance for optimizing ALK-targeted therapeutic strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":" ","pages":"271-285"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143978040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Computational design of PARP-1 inhibitors: QSAR, molecular docking, virtual screening, ADMET, and molecular dynamics simulations for targeted drug development.","authors":"N Najafi, M H Fatemi","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2480859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1062936X.2025.2480859","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) inhibitors have shown promise in treating various cancers with homologous recombination repair deficiencies, particularly in breast and ovarian cancers harbouring BRCA1/2 mutations. This study aimed to identify and optimize novel PARP-1 inhibitors using the phthalazinone scaffold, known for forming strong and selective interactions with the active site of PARP-1. Through a combination of Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) modelling, molecular docking simulations, and virtual screening, we discovered compounds with significant anticancer potential. Both the Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) models, utilizing four selected molecular descriptors, demonstrated high predictive efficiency for inhibitory activity (MLR: <i>r</i><sup>2</sup> = 0.944, <i>Q</i><sup>2</sup><sub>cv</sub> (cross-validated correlation coefficient) = 0.921, root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.249; SVM: <i>r</i><sup>2</sup> = 0.947, <i>Q</i><sup>2</sup><sub>cv</sub> = 0.887, RMSE = 0.245). Molecular docking studies revealed that several new compounds exhibited strong interactions with key amino acids GLY 227A, MET 229A, PHE 230A, and TYR 246A within the PARP-1 active site, similar to those observed in reference inhibitors Olaparib and AZD2461. Then, the top-ranked compound's (3a) ligand-protein complex underwent a 200 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, confirming stable binding and revealing a robust set of intermolecular interactions maintained under physiological conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":"36 3","pages":"205-246"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143994123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Identification of potential inhibitors of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase for cancer treatment by molecular docking, dynamics simulation and in vitro studies.","authors":"O Afzal, A Altharawi, M A Alamri","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478500","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478500","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase 1 (HPRT1) is a mutational biomarker and a housekeeping human reporter gene that is predominantly employed to assess mutation frequencies associated with cancer development. In this study, our purpose was to identify potential inhibitors against the human hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) protein encoded by HPRT1 gene by employing an integrated in silico approach. The library of 17,967 phytochemicals (IMPPAT 2.0 database) was screened for drug-like properties followed by molecular docking, resulting in the selection of top 20 phytochemicals. Further interaction profile revealed that IMPHY008718 (Gibberellin A34) and IMPHY011650 (Chasmanthin) binds at the GMP binding site of the HPRT1 protein. ADMET properties and biological function predictions of the selected compounds indicate their anticancer potential. Both IMPHY008718 and IMPHY011650 docked complexes were examined in 200 ns MD simulations. Comprehensive MD trajectory analysis was performed in addition to principal component, free energy and MM/PBSA analysis. Furthermore, in vitro human HPRT inhibition assay confirmed and revealed inhibitory potential for Gibberellin A34 (<i>K</i><sub>i</sub> 0.121 µM) and Chasmanthin (<i>K</i><sub>i</sub> 0.368 µM), as compared to standard inhibitor, HGPRT/TBrHGPRT1-IN-1 (<i>K</i><sub>i</sub> 0.032 µM). Overall, these results strongly recommend further experimental work concerning these plant-based molecules as human HPRT inhibitors for anticancer drug development.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":" ","pages":"169-188"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143692913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Predicting acute toxicity of pesticides towards <i>Daphnia magna</i> with random forest algorithm.","authors":"S Xu","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478510","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A large number of pesticides are released into the environment, resulting in serious threat for aquatic organisms. In this work, 15 quantum chemical descriptors were used to develop a quantitative structure-activity/toxicity relationship (QSAR/QSTR) model for toxicity pEC<sub>50</sub> of 745 pesticides towards <i>Daphnia magna</i>, by using random forest algorithm. The optimal QSTR model in this paper yielded a coefficient of determination of 0.828, root-mean-square error of 0.798, and mean absolute error of 0.628 for the test set of 149 pesticides, which are accurate values compared with those of QSTR models published recently. Research has revealed that increasing molecular size (or molar volume), the most positive atomic Mulliken (or APT) charge with hydrogens summed into heavy, and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy, can result in higher toxicity pEC<sub>50</sub>. Increasing the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy and the HOMO and LUMO energy gap can lead to lower toxicity pEC<sub>50</sub>.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":"36 3","pages":"189-203"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144031410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Read-across-driven binary classification for the developmental and reproductive toxicity of organic compounds tested according to the OECD test guidelines 421/422.","authors":"M Chatterjee, S Pore, Z Szepesi, K Roy","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2483765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1062936X.2025.2483765","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Developmental and reproductive toxicity (DART) refers to the adverse effects on sexual function, fertility, and the development of offspring resulting from exposure to toxic substances or chemicals, which may occur at various stages of the reproductive cycle. In response to the increasing volume of chemicals, regulatory bodies advocate for implementing various new approach methodologies (NAMs) as alternatives to animal testing, enabling rapid assessments of the toxic potential of numerous chemical substances. In this study, in silico methodologies were utilized to assess the DART properties of various industrial chemicals. We employed a Read-Across (RA)-based binary classification approach to evaluate the DART potential of these chemicals. The data for the binary classification have been compiled from two distinct sources: eChemPortal (https://www.echemportal.org/echemportal/) and the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) databases. The information gathered from these sources encompasses two types of toxicity data: No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) and Low Observed Adverse Effect Level (LOAEL) tested as per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Test Guidelines 421 and 422, adopting the principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). The data were utilized separately for safety assessment through a binary classification-based read-across prediction, demonstrating commendable classification capabilities for new chemicals (Accuracy<sub>test</sub> ~0.700).</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":"36 3","pages":"247-270"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144046502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G Xu, W Zhang, J Du, J Cong, P Wang, X Li, X Si, B Wei
{"title":"Binding mechanism of inhibitors to DFG-in and DFG-out P38α deciphered using multiple independent Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics simulations and deep learning.","authors":"G Xu, W Zhang, J Du, J Cong, P Wang, X Li, X Si, B Wei","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2475407","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2475407","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>P38α has been identified as a key target for drug design to treat a wide range of diseases. In this study, multiple independent Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) simulations, deep learning (DL), and the molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) method were used to investigate the binding mechanism of inhibitors (SB2, SK8, and BMU) to DFG-in and DFG-out P38α and clarify the effect of conformational differences in P38α on inhibitor binding. GaMD trajectory-based DL effectively identified important functional domains, such as the A-loop and N-sheet. Post-processing analysis on GaMD trajectories showed that binding of the three inhibitors profoundly affected the structural flexibility and dynamical behaviour of P38α situated at the DFG-in and DFG-out states. The MM-GBSA calculations not only revealed that differences in the binding ability of inhibitors are affected by DFG-in and DFG-out conformations of P38α, but also confirmed that van der Waals interactions are the primary force driving inhibitor-P38α binding. Residue-based free energy estimation identifies hot spots of inhibitor-P38α binding across DFG-in and DFG-out conformations, providing potential target sites for drug design towards P38α. This work is expected to offer valuable theoretical support for the development of selective inhibitors of P38α family members.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":" ","pages":"101-126"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143664497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A Awomuti, Z Yu, O Adesina, O W Samuel, A W Mumbi, D Yin
{"title":"Predictive modelling of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) IC50 inhibition by emerging pollutants using light gradient boosting machine.","authors":"A Awomuti, Z Yu, O Adesina, O W Samuel, A W Mumbi, D Yin","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478123","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478123","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), a critical nuclear receptor, plays a pivotal role in regulating metabolic and inflammatory processes. However, various environmental contaminants can disrupt PPARγ function, leading to adverse health effects. This study introduces a novel approach to predict the inhibitory activity (IC50 values) of 140 chemical compounds across 13 categories, including pesticides, organochlorines, dioxins, detergents, flame retardants, and preservatives, on PPARγ. The predictive model, based on the light-gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) algorithm, was trained on a dataset of 1804 molecules showed <i>r</i><sup>2</sup> values of 0.82 and 0.59, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.38 and 0.58, and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.54 and 0.76 for the training and test sets, respectively. This study provides novel insights into the interactions between emerging contaminants and PPARγ, highlighting the potential hazards and risks these chemicals may pose to public health and the environment. The ability to predict PPARγ inhibition by these hazardous contaminants demonstrates the value of this approach in guiding enhanced environmental toxicology research and risk assessment.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":" ","pages":"145-167"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143692925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Modelling of intrinsic membrane permeability of drug molecules by explainable ML-based q-RASPR approach towards better pharmacokinetics and toxicokinetics properties.","authors":"I Dasgupta, H Barik, S Gayen","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478118","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2478118","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drug discovery's success lies in potent inhibition against a target and optimum pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic properties of drug molecules. Membrane permeability is a crucial factor in determining the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drug molecules, thereby determining the pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic properties important for drug development. Intrinsic permeability (P<sub>0</sub>) is more crucial than apparent permeability (Papp) in assessing the transport of drug molecules across a membrane. It gives more consistent results due to its non-dependency on external/site-specific factors. In the present work, our focus is on the construction of a machine learning (ML)-based quantitative read-across structure-property relationship (q-RASPR) model of intrinsic permeability of drug molecules by utilizing both linear and non-linear algorithms. The Support Vector Regression (SVR) q-RASPR model was found to be the best model having superior predictive ability (<i>Q</i><sup>2</sup><sub>F1</sub> = 0.788, <i>Q</i><sup>2</sup><sub>F2</sub> = 0.785, <i>MAE</i><sub>test</sub> = 0.637). The contribution of important descriptors in the final model is explained to get a mechanistic interpretation of intrinsic permeability. Overall, the present study unveils the application of the q-RASPR framework for significant improvement of the external predictivity of the traditional QSPR model in the case of intrinsic permeability to get a better assessment of the total permeability of drug molecules.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":"36 2","pages":"127-143"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143796257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enhanced in silico QSAR-based screening of butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors using multi-feature selection and machine learning.","authors":"D Sharmistha, M Prabha, R R Siva Kiran, H Ashoka","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2466020","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2466020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Butyrylcholinesterase inhibition offers one of the formulated solutions to tackle the aggravating symptoms of dementia that downgrades to cholinergic neuronal loss in Alzheimer's disease. We developed a QSAR model to facilitate the identification of effective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors. The model employs multi-feature selection and feature learning, improving the in silico screening efficiency and accelerating drug discovery efforts. This study aims to integrate Human Intestinal Absorption (HIA) values of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) target inhibitors and their 50% inhibitory concentration (IC<sub>50</sub>) with machine learning tools. The model was developed using chemical descriptors in combination with supervised machine learning classification algorithms. Random Forest Classifier algorithm proved to be the ultimate best fit for classification model metrics including log loss probability (0.04225), accuracy score (98.88%) and Matthew's correlation coefficient (0.98). Furthermore, a subset of the active dataset was used to study the regression based on HIA values using multi-feature selection and feature learning. The models were validated using precision, recall and F1 score for regression modelling. After integrating HIA data with existing machine learning algorithms, we observed a significant reduction of 89.63% in the number of inhibitors. The findings provide valuable pharmacological insights that can help in future design of drug development schemes different from conventional methods.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":" ","pages":"79-99"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143468898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular mechanism of interactions of SPIN1 with novel inhibitors through molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations.","authors":"S Wang, R Wang, J Yang, L Xu, B Zhao, L Chen","doi":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2463586","DOIUrl":"10.1080/1062936X.2025.2463586","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Methyllysine reading protein Spindlin 1 (SPIN1) plays a crucial role in histone post-translational modifications and serves as an effective target for the treatment of various malignant tumours. Although several inhibitors targeting SPIN1 expression have been identified, the atomic-level interactions between SPIN1 and inhibitors remain unclear. In this study, six potential SPIN1 inhibitors A366, EML631, MS31, MS8535, vinspinln, and XY49-92B were selected for molecular docking with SPIN1. Conformational changes in SPIN1 induced by these inhibitors, as well as their interactions, were investigated using molecular dynamics simulation (MD) and energy prediction methods including molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) and solvation interaction energy (SIE). The findings indicate that the binding pockets within domain II, specifically Phe141, Trp151, Tyr170, and Tyr177, engage in cation-π interactions with these inhibitors, while also contributing to van der Waals hydrophobic interactions of varying strengths. These van der Waals hydrophobic interactions are critical for their binding affinity, while electrostatic interactions are significantly counterbalanced by polar solvation effects. In addition, through virtual screening and molecular docking, a new lead compound CXY49 was found presenting an effective binding to SPIN1. The structural and energetic changes identified in this study provide valuable insights for the development of new SPIN1 inhibitors.</p>","PeriodicalId":21446,"journal":{"name":"SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research","volume":"36 1","pages":"57-77"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143483972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}