Inhibitors of Helicobacter pylori protease HtrA found by "virtual ligand" screening combat bacterial invasion of epithelia
Background: The human pathogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a main cause for gastric inflammation and cancer. Increasing bacterial resistance against antibiotics demands for innovative strategies for therapeutic intervention. Methodology/Principal Findings: We present a method for structure-based virtual screening that is based on the comprehensive prediction of ligand binding sites on a protein model and automated construction of a ligand-receptor interaction map. Pharmacophoric features of the map are clustered and transformed in a correlation vector (‘virtual ligand’) for rapid virtual screening of compound databases. This computer-based technique was validated for 18 different targets of pharmaceutical interest in a retrospective screening experiment. Prospective screening for inhibitory agents was performed for the protease HtrA from the human pathogen H. pylori using a homology model of the target protein. Among 22 tested compounds six block E-cadherin cleavage by HtrA in vitro and result in reduced scattering and wound healing of gastric epithelial cells, thereby preventing bacterial infiltration of the epithelium. Conclusions/Significance: This study demonstrates that receptor-based virtual screening with a permissive (‘fuzzy’) pharmacophore model can help identify small bioactive agents for combating bacterial infection.
| Author: | Martin Löwer, Tim Geppert, Petra Schneider, Benjamin Hoy, Silja Weßler, Gisbert Schneider |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-114697 |
| DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017986 |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Parent Title (English): | PLoS one |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 06.09.2011 |
| Year of first Publication: | 2011 |
| Publishing Institution: | Univ.-Bibliothek Frankfurt am Main |
| Source: | PLoS ONE 6(3): e17986. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017986 |
| HeBIS PPN: | 276040198 |
| Institutes: | Biochemie und Chemie |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
| Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
| Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte Biologie | |
| Note: | Copyright: © 2011 Löwer et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Licence (German): | Creative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0 |





