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Structural, functional and docking analysis against Schistosoma mansoni dihydroorotate dehydrogenase for potential chemotherapeutic drugs

Background: Praziquantel, as the only drug for the treatment of schistosomiasis, is under serious threat due to the emergence of resistant strains of Schistosoma species. There is an urgent need to search for alternative chemotherapy to supplement or complement praziquantel. Schistosoma dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) has been recommended as a druggable target for schistosomiasis chemotherapy. The development of novel molecular modeling approaches, alongside with computational tools and rapid sequencing of pathogen genomes, have facilitated drug discovery. Therefore, the aim of this study was to employ computational approaches to screen compounds against Schistosoma mansoni DHODH. Methods: In this study, DHODH was used to blast on the latest version of DrugBank that contained 12,110 compounds, resulting in 26 drugs that can bind. Results: In silico docking shows that 13 drugs can bind strongly with an estimated free energy of binding, total intermolecular energy and estimated inhibition constant (Ki) greater than or equal to -8.6 kcal/mol, -8.12 kcal/mol and 1.12 µM, respectively. These compounds include the approved drugs manitimus, capecitabine, brequinar analog and leflunomide. Conclusions: These results indicate that these drugs have the potential for use in the control of schistosomiasis in the future.