Scholarlink

<p><i>Candida albicans</i> is an opportunistic fungal pathogen responsible for candidiasis and systemic infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. The organism’s virulence is governed by a network of proteins, many of which remain underexplored as drug targets. This study aims to identify potential antifungal lead compounds by targeting multiple virulence-associated proteins of <i>C. albicans</i> using computational methods. 11 essential <i>C. albicans</i> proteins implicated in pathogenicity and survival were selected as targets. Homology modeling was performed for proteins lacking resolved crystal structures. 7 test ligands, including one acridone derivative, were screened via molecular docking to assess binding affinity and target interaction profiles. Docking results revealed strong binding affinities for the acridone derivative, E-1210, and T-2307 across multiple targets. The acridone compound, in particular, exhibited multitarget binding with CHS3 (− 7.296&#xa0;kcal/mol), LEU2 (− 6.627&#xa0;kcal/mol), BGL2 (− 8.183&#xa0;kcal/mol), and HK1 (− 6.183&#xa0;kcal/mol), suggesting its potential as a broad-spectrum inhibitor. This study provides preliminary in silico evidence for the multitarget inhibitory potential of selected antifungal ligands, especially acridone-based scaffolds. These findings offer a promising basis for future antifungal drug development and address the growing challenge of drug target scarcity in fungal therapeutics. </p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Finding Acridone as Potent Antifungal Ligand Targeting Virulent Proteins of Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年6月22日

查看全文
  • Anubhuti Jha,
  • Jyoti Sankar Prusty,
  • Awanish Kumar

摘要

Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen responsible for candidiasis and systemic infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. The organism’s virulence is governed by a network of proteins, many of which remain underexplored as drug targets. This study aims to identify potential antifungal lead compounds by targeting multiple virulence-associated proteins of C. albicans using computational methods. 11 essential C. albicans proteins implicated in pathogenicity and survival were selected as targets. Homology modeling was performed for proteins lacking resolved crystal structures. 7 test ligands, including one acridone derivative, were screened via molecular docking to assess binding affinity and target interaction profiles. Docking results revealed strong binding affinities for the acridone derivative, E-1210, and T-2307 across multiple targets. The acridone compound, in particular, exhibited multitarget binding with CHS3 (− 7.296 kcal/mol), LEU2 (− 6.627 kcal/mol), BGL2 (− 8.183 kcal/mol), and HK1 (− 6.183 kcal/mol), suggesting its potential as a broad-spectrum inhibitor. This study provides preliminary in silico evidence for the multitarget inhibitory potential of selected antifungal ligands, especially acridone-based scaffolds. These findings offer a promising basis for future antifungal drug development and address the growing challenge of drug target scarcity in fungal therapeutics.