An in silico drug repurposing approach to identify HDAC1 inhibitors against glioblastoma

Despite considerable improvement in therapy and diagnosis, brain tumors remain a global public health concern. Among all brain tumors, 80% are due to Glioblastoma. The average survival rate of a patient once diagnosed with glioblastoma is 15 months. Lately, the role of peptidase enzymes, especially Neprilysin, a neutral endopeptidase, is gaining attention for its role in tumor growth regulation. Neprilysin expressions are positively correlated with several tumors including GBM and reduced expression of NEP protein is associated with the pathogenesis of multiple tumors. One of the main reasons for NEP protein downregulation is the action of Histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes, especially HDAC1. Additionally, studies have reported that increased levels of HDAC1 are responsible for downregulating NEP gene expression. Hence, HDAC1 inhibition can be a good target to elevate NEP levels, which can be a good therapeutic approach to GBM. This study utilizes the computational drug repurposing tool, Schrodinger Maestro to identify HDAC1 inhibitors from the ZINC15 database.1379 FDA-approved drugs from the ZINC15 database were screened through molecular docking. Based on docking score and ligand-protein interaction, the top ten molecules were selected which were then subjected to binding energy calculation and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The three most active drugs from the MD simulations- ZINC22010649 (Panobinostat), ZINC4392649 (Tasimelteon) and ZINC1673 (Melphalan), were tested on C6 and U87 MG glioblastoma cells for cytotoxicity and HDAC1 protein levels using western blot analysis. Among the three drugs, Panobinostat exhibited potent cytotoxic action and showed a significant reduction in the HDAC1 protein levels. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma