Discovery of a new class of inhibitors for the protein arginine deiminase type 4 (PAD4) by structure-based virtual screening

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease with unknown etiology. Anticitrullinated protein autoantibody has been documented as a highly specific autoantibody associated with RA. Protein arginine deiminase type 4 (PAD4) is the enzyme responsible for catalyzing the conversion of peptidylarginine into peptidylcitrulline. PAD4 is a new therapeutic target for RA treatment. In order to search for inhibitors of PAD4, structure-based virtual screening was performed using LIDAEUS (Ligand discovery at Edinburgh university). Potential inhibitors were screened experimentally by inhibition assays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty two of the top-ranked water-soluble compounds were selected for inhibitory screening against PAD4. Three compounds showed significant inhibition of PAD4 and their IC₅₀values were investigated. The structures of the three compounds show no resemblance with previously discovered PAD4 inhibitors, nor with existing drugs for RA treatment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Three compounds were discovered as potential inhibitors of PAD4 by virtual screening. The compounds are commercially available and can be used as scaffolds to design more potent inhibitors against PAD4.</p

High-affinity glucose transport in Aspergillus nidulans is mediated by the products of two related but differentially expressed genes

Independent systems of high and low affinity effect glucose uptake in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Low-affinity uptake is known to be mediated by the product of the mstE gene. In the current work two genes, mstA and mstC, have been identified that encode high-affinity glucose transporter proteins. These proteins' primary structures share over 90% similarity, indicating that the corresponding genes share a common origin. Whilst the function of the paralogous proteins is little changed, they differ notably in their patterns of expression. The mstC gene is expressed during the early phases of germination and is subject to CreA-mediated carbon catabolite repression whereas mstA is expressed as a culture tends toward carbon starvation. In addition, various pieces of genetic evidence strongly support allelism of mstC and the previously described locus sorA. Overall, our data define MstC/SorA as a high-affinity glucose transporter expressed in germinating conidia, and MstA as a high-affinity glucose transporter that operates in vegetative hyphae under conditions of carbon limitation. © 2014 Forment et al