Title:In silico Exploration of a Novel ICMT Inhibitor with More Solubility than Cysmethynil against Membrane Localization of KRAS Mutant in Colorectal Cancer
Volume: 20
Issue: 7
Author(s): Mohammed Mouhcine*, Youness Kadil, Ibtihal Segmani, Imane Rahmoune and Houda Filali
Affiliation:
- Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Casablanca, Hassan II University
of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco
Keywords:
Colorectal cancer, pharmacophore, molecular docking, KRAS, ICMT inhibitors, virtual screening, ADMET.
Abstract:
Background: ICMT (isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferase) is an enzyme
that plays a key role in the post-translational modification of the K-Ras protein. The carboxyl
methylation of this protein by ICMT is important for its proper localization and function.
Cysmethynil (2-[5-(3-methylphenyl)-l-octyl-lH-indolo-3-yl] acetamide) causes K-Ras mislocalization
and interrupts pathways that control cancer cell growth and division through inhibition
of ICMT, but its poor water solubility makes it difficult and impractical for clinical use. This
indicates that relatively high amounts of cysmethynil would be required to achieve an effective
dose, which could result in significant adverse effects in patients.
Objective: The general objective of this work was to find virtually new compounds that present
high solubility in water and are similar to the pharmacological activity of cysmethynil.
Materials and Methods: Pharmacophore modeling, pharmacophore-based virtual screening,
prediction of ADMET properties (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity),
and water solubility were performed to recover a water-soluble molecule that shares the same
chemical characteristics as cysmethynil using Discovery Studio v16.1.0 (DS16.1), SwissADME
server, and pkCSM server.
Results: In this study, ten pharmacophore model hypotheses were generated by exploiting the
characteristics of cysmethynil. The pharmacophore model validated by the set test method was
used to screen the "Elite Library
®" and "Synergy Library" databases of Asinex. Only 1533 compounds
corresponding to all the characteristics of the pharmacophore were retained. Then, the
aqueous solubility in water at 25°C of these 1533 compounds was predicted by the Cheng and
Merz model. Among these 1533 compounds, two had the optimal water solubility. Finally, the
ADMET properties and Log S water solubility by three models (ESOL, Ali, and SILICOS-IT)
of the two compounds and cysmethynil were compared, resulting in compound 2 as a potential
inhibitor of ICMT.
Conclusion: According to the results obtained, the identified compound presented a high solubility
in water and could be similar to the pharmacological activity of cysmethynil.
