Discovery of novel DUSP16 phosphatase inhibitors through virtual screening with homology modeled protein structure.

Recently, dual-specificity phosphatase 16 (DUSP16) emerged as a promising therapeutic target protein for the development of anti-atherosclerosis and anticancer medicines. The present study was undertaken to identify the novel inhibitors of DUSP16 based on the structure-based virtual screening. We have been able to find seven novel inhibitors of DUSP16 through the drug design protocol involving homology modeling of the target protein, docking simulations between DUSP16 and its putative inhibitors with the modified scoring function, and in vitro enzyme assay.

The family-wide structure and function of human dual-specificity protein phosphatases.

Dual-specificity protein phosphatases (DUSPs), which dephosphorylate both phosphoserine/threonine and phosphotyrosine, play vital roles in immune activation, brain function and cell-growth signalling. A family-wide structural library of human DUSPs was constructed based on experimental structure determination supplemented with homology modelling. The catalytic domain of each individual DUSP has characteristic features in the active site and in surface-charge distribution, indicating substrate-interaction specificity.

Homology modeling and virtual screening approaches to identify potent inhibitors of slingshot phosphatase 1.

Although slingshot phosphatase 1 (SSH1) proved to be a promising target for the development of therapeutics for the treatment of vascular diseases and cancers, no small-molecule inhibitor has been reported so far. We have been able to identify eight novel inhibitors of SSH1 through the computer-aided drug design protocol involving homology modeling of SSH1 structure, virtual screening of a large chemical library with docking simulations, and in vitro enzyme assays. The identified inhibitors revealed high potencies with the associated IC(50) values ranging from 2.

Identification of potent VHZ phosphatase inhibitors with structure-based virtual screening.

VH1-like phosphatase Z (VHZ) has proved to be a promising target for the development of therapeutics for the treatment of human cancers. Here, we report the first example for a successful application of structure-based virtual screening to identify the novel small-molecule inhibitors of VHZ. These inhibitors revealed high potencies with the associated IC(50) values ranging from 3 to 20 µM and were also screened for having desirable physicochemical properties as a drug candidate.