In Silico Identification of Novel Natural Inhibitors Of Carbohydrate Metabolic Pathway In Cancer Cells

Abstract

Carbohydrate metabolism in cancer cells is linked to the 'Warburg Effect' which states that, under aerobic conditions, cancer cells metabolize approximately ten fold more glucose to lactate in a given time than normal cells; typically altered glycolytic pathway regulation. This has made the blocking of glycolytic pathway enzymes, a fascinating strategy to find treatment for cancer. This project addresses in a comprehensive manner the main glycolytic enzymes accounting for high-rate glycolysis in cancer cells. In addition, highlights of inhibitors that can be used to target the particular enzymes to decrease proliferation have also been done. Furthermore, besides the known inhibitors, receptor-based molecular docking of certain methylated flavonoids was performed with the proteins (isozymes of carbohydrate metabolic pathway enzymes) to find the lead inhibitors. The proteins used in the study are GLUT1 (4PYP), Hexokinase2 (2NZT), Phosphofructokinase2 (2AXN), Pyruvate kinaseM2 (3GQY), Lactate dehydrogenase A (4AJP) and Enolase2 (5IDZ). The dock scores were in the range of -5.88 to -9.68 against different target proteins. The methylated flavonoids 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-4H-chromen- 4-one, 5,7-dihydroxy-2-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-6,8-dimethoxy-4H-chromen-4- one, 2-(3,4-dimethylphenyl)-5,7-dimethyl-4H-chromen-4-one and 6-hydroxy-3,5,7,8- tetramethoxy-2-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-4H-chromen-4-one showed better dock scores for the target proteins in comparison to the standard inhibitors. Thus these methylated flavonoids might be considered promising leads for further development of glycolytic pathway inhibitors in cancer cells.