Haya: The Saudi Journal of Life Sciences (SJLS)
Volume-2 | Issue-09 | 335-348
Original Research Article
Ligand Docking Based Identification of Novel Drug Analog for an Effective Treatment against Filaria
Venkata Ramya Bola, Pasupuleti Sreenivas Rao, Sreeram Satish
Published : Dec. 30, 2017
Abstract
Filariasis (Philariasis) is a parasitic and infectious tropical disease that is
caused by thread-like filarial nematode worms and their larvae. Filariasis is rarely
fatal and it is the second leading cause of permanent and long-term disability in the
world. The larvae transmit the disease to humans through a mosquito bite.
Considering the Tubulin protein as drug target, which is the principle component of
the Microtubular system in the filarial nematodes, the drugs were found by using the
Drug Bank and their analogs by using NCI Enhanced Database Browser.
Benzimidazole carbamates, a class of microtubule depolymerizing drugs was found
to act by disrupting the assembly of tubulin dimers into microtubules. Thus the
filarial nematode muscular system gets severely affected. The Filariasis can be
prevented and eradicated by administrating one of the drugs belonging to
benzimidazole carbamates class. Using Discovery Studio Visualisation tool, the
analogs of this class of drugs were docked with the tubulin protein and novel drug
was identified for an effective treatment against Filaria.