Structure Based Docking and Molecular Dynamic Studies of Plasmodial Cysteine Proteases against a South African Natural Compound and its Analogs.

ABSTRACT: Identification of potential drug targets as well as development of novel antimalarial chemotherapies with unique mode of actions due to drug resistance by Plasmodium parasites are inevitable. Falcipains (falcipain-2 and falcipain-3) of Plasmodium falciparum, which catalyse the haemoglobin degradation process, are validated drug targets. Previous attempts to develop peptide based drugs against these enzymes have been futile due to the poor pharmacological profiles and susceptibility to degradation by host enzymes. This study aimed to identify potential non-peptide inhibitors against falcipains and their homologs from other Plasmodium species. Structure based virtual docking approach was used to screen a small non-peptidic library of natural compounds from South Africa against 11 proteins. A

SUBMITTER: Musyoka TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4814779 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature