Determination of Hybrid TSPO Ligands with Minimal Impact of SNP (rs6971) through Molecular Docking and MD Simulation Study
Background: In an endeavor to ascertain high affinity TSPO ligands with minimal single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), six hybrid molecules have been identified as new leads for future inflammation PET imaging. Objective: Genesis for chemical design was encouraged from structural families of well-known ligands FEBMP and PBR28/ DAA1106 that has demonstrated remarkable TSPO binding characteristics. Methods: All proposed hybrid ligands 1-6 are subjected to molecular docking and simulation studies with wild and mutant protein to study their interactions, binding, consistency of active conformations and are correlated with well-established TSPO ligands. Results: Each hybrid ligand demonstrate better docking score > -11.00 kcal/mol with TSPO with respect to gold standard PK11195 i.e., -11.00 kcal/mol for 4UC3 and -12.94 kcal/mol for 4UC1. On comparison with FEBMP and GE-180 (-12.57,-7.24 kcal/mol for 4UC3 and -14.10,-11.32 kcal/mol for 4UC1), ligand 3 demonstrate maximum docking energy (>-15.50 kcal/mol), minimum SNP (0.26 kcal/mol). Discussion: Presence of strong hydrogen bond Arg148-3.27Å (4UC1) and Trp50-2.43Å, Asp28-2.57Å (4UC3) apart from short-range interactions including π–π interactions with the aromatic residues such as (Trp39, Phe46, Trp135) and (Trp39, Trp108) that attributes towards its strong binding. Conclusion: Utilizing the results of binding energy, we concluded stable complex formation of these hybrid ligands that could bind to TSPO with least effect of SNP with similar interactions to known ligands. Overall ligand 3 stand out as the best ligand having insignificant deviations per residue of protein that can be further explored and assessed in detail for future inflammation PET application after subsequent detailed biological evaluation.