Discovery of potent human lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) inhibitors with antiproliferative activity against lung cancer cells: virtual screening and biological evaluation.

Human lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) plays a crucial role in the promotion of glycolysis in invasive tumor cells, and recently, it has been considered as a vital therapeutic target in the field of oncology. Herein, by combining docking-based virtual screening with biochemical evaluation, we report the discovery of a potent LDHA inhibitor with antiproliferative activity. The enzymatic assay suggested that the identified compound has a good inhibitory activity (IC = 0.36 μM) against LDHA. The cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that compound reduces the growth of A549 and NCI-H1975 lung cancer cells, with EC values of 5.5 and 3.0 μM, respectively. These findings indicate that compound could be employed as a useful probe to explore the pharmacology of LDHA.