Desenvolvimento de protótipos leishmanicidas: estudos computacionais por modelagem molecular, síntese química e avaliação farmacológica de novos derivados do eugenol

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a neglected pathology with a high incidence worldwide, constituting a governmental health problem in Minas Gerais and in the whole country as well, because of the high degree of morbidity and mortality and a scarce therapeutic arsenal. There are enzymes essential for cell growth and viability of Leishmania that are investigated as targets for new drugs. This thesis aimed to identify compounds that had leishmanicidal activity, using Molecular Modeling and Bioinformatics tools, followed by synthesis and in vitro evaluation of its pharmacological activity. The aim of the Molecular Modeling study is to evaluate the interaction of the compounds with some biological targets (CRK3, trypanothione synthetase, arginase and rCPB2.8 enzymes). The three-dimensional structures of the CRK3 and rCPB2.8 enzymes were predicted by homology modeling, since there are no crystal structures of these proteins deposited in a database. The crystallographic structures of the arginase and trypanothione synthase proteins were obtained from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The planning of a simple and reproducible synthetic route was taken into account in the production of these substances. The Mannich base esters bearing different substituents at the para-disubstituted ring moiety were investigated, varying the substituents with electron donating groups as well as electron withdrawing groups of different electronegativity. The new substances were structurally elucidated using spectroscopic tools. The study of pharmacological activity made it possible to verify that the compounds SBM2, SBM3, SBM4, SBM5, SBM8, SBM11 and SBM13 have antipromastigote activity, and only the compound SBM3 showed inhibitory activity on the enzyme rCPB2.8 in the concentration of 100 μM. Activation of the enzyme rCPB2.8 exerted by intermediates 2, SBM4, SBM8 and SBM9 was also verified, which may be related to the interaction of these compounds in an allosteric site. Among the studied binding pockets in the surface of the rCPB2.8, one presented an interaction profile similar to that observed by in vitro studies, located in the region of the lysine residue LYS159, close to the active site.