Abstrato

Design of Potential Inhibitors of Urokinase in Silico Approach

Faten Alchab*

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) plays an important role in the regulation of diverse physiological and pathological processes. Elevated uPA expression is associated with cancer progression, metastasis, and shortened survival in patients, whereas suppression of proteolytic activity of uPA leads to evident decrease of metastasis. Therefore, uPA has been considered as a promising molecular target for development of anticancer drugs. The aim of this study was to find effective and selective inhibitors of uPA using molecular modeling study. A library of chemical compounds derived from Naphtalin and Theophylline cores was then docked within the active site of the uPA. The binding affinity and the binding positions of the suggested compounds with the active site of the previously prepared uPA enzyme were determined. The study led to three effective and selective inhibitors of the uPA enzyme; one compound derived from the Naphtalin core -Naph 15- and two compounds derived from the Theophylline core -Theo17 and Theo 18-. The study was completed by chemical synthesis of Theo17 molecule.