We have been working on the development of computational models for unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying enzyme inhibition and protein-ligand interactions (Bitencourt-Ferreira and de Azevedo, 2019a; 2019b; 2019c; da Silva et al., 2020). We can use these computational models to predict the binding affinity of a potential inhibitor for an enzyme; such knowledge has the potential to speed up drug discovery and decrease the cost of development of new drugs (de Ávila et al., 2017; Pintro and de Azevedo, 2017). Furthermore, the availability of computational models to predict binding affinity based on the atomic coordinates of protein-ligand complexes adds flexibility to the process of drug discovery (Xavier et al., 2016; Heck et al., 2017). It allows us to computationally test different scenarios where a potential new drug may interact with a protein target. We developed the programs SAnDReS (Xavier et al., 2016) and Taba (da Silva et al., 2020) to create machine-learning models targeted to the biological system of interest. We have successfully employed SAnDReS to study coagulation factor Xa (Xavier et al., 2016), cyclin-dependent kinases (de Ávila et al., 2017; Levin et al., 2018), HIV-1 protease (Pintro and de Azevedo, 2017), estrogen receptor (Amaral et al., 2018), cannabinoid receptor 1 (Russo and de Azevedo, 2019), and 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase (de Ávila and de Azevedo, 2018). Also, we used SAnDReS to develop a machine-learning model to predict Gibbs free energy of binding for protein-ligand complexes (Bitencourt-Ferreira and de Azevedo Jr., 2018).
References
Amaral MEA, Nery LR, Leite CE, de Azevedo Junior WF, Campos MM. Pre-clinical effects of metformin and aspirin on the cell lines of different breast cancer subtypes. Invest New Drugs. 2018; 36(5): 782–796.
Bitencourt-Ferreira G, de Azevedo Jr. WF. Development of a machine-learning model to predict Gibbs free energy of binding for protein-ligand complexes. Biophys Chem. 2018; 240: 63–69.
Bitencourt-Ferreira G, de Azevedo WF Jr. Machine Learning to Predict Binding Affinity. Methods Mol Biol. 2019a; 2053: 251–273.
Bitencourt-Ferreira G, de Azevedo WF Jr. Exploring the Scoring Function Space. Methods Mol Biol. 2019b; 2053: 275–281.
Bitencourt-Ferreira G, de Azevedo WF Jr. How Docking Programs Work. Methods Mol Biol. 2019c; 2053: 35–50.
da Silva AD, Bitencourt-Ferreira G, de Azevedo WF Jr. Taba: A Tool to Analyze the Binding Affinity. J Comput Chem. 2020; 41(1): 69–73.
de Ávila MB, Xavier MM, Pintro VO, de Azevedo WF. Supervised machine learning techniques to predict binding affinity. A study for cyclin-dependent kinase 2. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2017; 494: 305–310.
de Ávila MB, de Azevedo WF Jr. Development of machine learning models to predict inhibition of 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase. Chem Biol Drug Des. 2018; 92: 1468–1474.
Heck GS, Pintro VO, Pereira RR, de Ávila MB, Levin NMB, de Azevedo WF. Supervised Machine Learning Methods Applied to Predict Ligand-Binding Affinity. Curr Med Chem. 2017; 24(23): 2459–2470.
Levin NMB, Pintro VO, Bitencourt-Ferreira G, Mattos BB, Silvério AC, de Azevedo Jr. WF. Development of CDK-targeted scoring functions for prediction of binding affinity. Biophys Chem. 2018; 235: 1–8.
Pintro VO, Azevedo WF. Optimized Virtual Screening Workflow. Towards Target-Based Polynomial Scoring Functions for HIV-1 Protease. Comb Chem High Throughput Screen. 2017; 20(9): 820–827.
Russo S, de Azevedo WF. Advances in the Understanding of the Cannabinoid Receptor 1 - Focusing on the Inverse Agonists Interactions. Curr Med Chem. 2019; 26(10): 1908–1919.
Xavier MM, Heck GS, de Avila MB, Levin NM, Pintro VO, Carvalho NL, Azevedo WF Jr. SAnDReS a Computational Tool for Statistical Analysis of Docking Results and Development of Scoring Functions. Comb Chem High Throughput Screen. 2016; 19(10): 801–812.
Keywords: Computational systems biology; systems biology; systems approach; machine learning; protein; ligand; interactions; protein-ligand interactions; drug design; drug discovery; binding affinity.