Insilico discovery of novel Phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitors for the treatment of psoriasis: Insights from computer aided drug design approaches

PLoS One. 2024 Nov 13;19(11):e0305934. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305934. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Psoriasis is chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disorder characterized by various comorbidities, erythematous plaques with silvery scale which can lead to psoriatic arthritis. The phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) protein is a potential drug target to control Psoriasis. In the current study, pharmacophore-based virtual screening of Diversity library of ChemDiv database was first performed, and then the screened hits were docked to the active site of PDE4 to choose the best binding modes. Forty-six hits generated during the virtual screening were prepared and docked to the PDE4 receptor by SP docking module of glide. The binding affinities of the selected hits were calculated by molecular docking and based on the affinities, ten hits were selected for the bioactivity scores prediction and ADMET analysis. Based on the ADMET profiling, four hits D356-2630, C700-2058, G842-0420 and F403-0203 were processed to MD simulations for stability analysis. The outcomes showed that these compounds showed strong binding with proteins with better binding free energies. Based on the results of our study, we proposed that these hits can function as lead in the biological assays and in vitro studies are required to develop the novel drug candidates.

MeSH terms

  • Catalytic Domain
  • Computer-Aided Design
  • Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4* / chemistry
  • Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4* / metabolism
  • Drug Design*
  • Drug Discovery / methods
  • Humans
  • Molecular Docking Simulation*
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitors* / chemistry
  • Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitors* / pharmacology
  • Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitors* / therapeutic use
  • Protein Binding
  • Psoriasis* / drug therapy

Substances

  • Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitors
  • Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4

Grants and funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.