• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.178-182
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• 2008

Although the number of patients with Acanthamoeba keratitis has increased dramatically since the widespread use of contact lens, it is still very hard to cure the disease. The proteases from the Acanthamoeba were reported to play important role in the pathogenesis of keratitis. In this study, the inhibitors for extracellular serine proteases of A. castellanii were screened from the extracts of 230 mushroom samples collected from various regions of Korea. The mushrooms were extracted with methanol and water ($65^{\circ}C$). Filtered and concentrated extracts (0.3 mg/ml) were preincubated with proteases before addition of peptide substrate N-succinyl-ala-ala-pro-phe p-anilide. The selected extracts showing strong inhibitory effects were characterized. Although inhibition with single extract was not so high enough, the complete inhibition was achieved with combination of two extracts. The selected extract showed little effect on other serine proteases such as thrombin (human and bovine) and on general protease such as protease K.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2006

The photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodospirillum rubrum S1, when grown under anaerobic conditions, generated three different types of catalases. In this study, we purified and characterized the highest molecular weight catalase from the three catalases. The total specific catalase activity of the crude cell extracts was 88 U/mg. After the completion of the final purification step, the specific activity of the purified catalase was 1,256 U/mg. The purified catalase evidenced an estimated molecular mass of 318 kDa, consisting of four identical subunits, each of 79 kDa. The purified enzyme exhibited an apparent Km value of 30.4 mM and a Vmax of 2,564 U against hydrogen peroxide. The enzyme also exhibited a broad optimal pH $(5.0{\sim}9.0)$, and remained stable over a broad temperature range $(20^{\circ}C{\sim}60^{\circ}C)$. It maintained 90% activity against organic solvents (ethanol/chloroform) known hydroperoxidase inhibitors, and exhibited no detectable peroxidase activity. The catalase activity of the purified enzyme was reduced to 19 % of full activity as the result of the administration of 10 mM 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, a heme-containing catalase inhibitor. Sodium cyanide, sodium azide, and hydroxylamine, all of which are known heme protein inhibitors, inhibited catalase activity by 50 % at concentrations of $11.5{\mu}M,\;0.52{\mu}M,\;and\;0.11{\mu}M$, respectively. In accordance with these findings, the enzyme was identified as a type of monofunctional catalase.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2022

The identification of Plasmodium falciparum enoyl acyl-carrier protein reductase (pfENR) is considered as a potential biological target against malaria. Trema orientalis is considered a rich source of phytochemicals useful in malaria treatment. This study evaluated the in-vitro inhibitory activity of the extract and isolated compounds of T. orientalis leaf; the isolated compounds and the analogues of the most active compound were subjected to in-silico molecular docking studies on pfENR. The methanolic extract of T. orientalis was subjected to repeated chromatographic separation which led to the isolation of some compounds. The isolated compounds from the plant were examined for their antimalarial activity using β-hematin inhibition assay. Virtual screening via molecular docking and ADMET studies were conducted to gain insight into the mechanism of binding of ligand and to identify effective pfENR inhibitors. The isolated compounds and the analogues of the most active isolates were gotten from PubChem library for use in docking study. Hexacosanol and β-sitosterol showed inhibition of the β-hematin formation. The docking results showed that hexacosanol, β-sitosterol and the analogues of β-sitosterol displayed binding energy ranging between -6.1 kcal/mol and -11.6 kcal/mol. Sitosterol glucoside has the highest docking score. Some of the ligands showed more binding affinity than known bioactive compounds used as reference. Analogues of β-sitosterol has been shown to be potential inhibitors of pfENR, therefore, the findings from this study suggest that sitosterol glucoside and ergosterol peroxide could act as antimalarial agents after further lead optimisation investigations.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2016

Monopolar spindle 1 (Mps1) is an attractive cancer target due to its high expression levels in a wide range of cancer cells. Mps1 is a dual specificity kinase. It plays an essential role in mitosis. The high expression od Mps1 was observed in various grades of breast cancers. In the current study, we have developed a CoMFA model of pyridazine derivatives as Mps1 kinase inhibitors. The developed CoMFA model ($q^2=0.797$; ONC=6; $r^2=0.992$) exhibited a good predictive ability. The model was then validated by Leave out five, progressive sampling and bootstrapping and found to be robust. The analysis of the CoMFA contour maps depicted favorable and unfavorable regions to enhance the activity. Bulky positive substitution at $R^3$ position and Negative substitution in $R^1$ position is favored could increase the activity. In contrast, bulky substitution in $R^1$ position is not favored. Our results can be used in designing a potent Mps1 (TTK) inhibitor.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2015

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) is a serine/threonine protein kinase that has recently emerged as a promising target in drug discovery. It is involved in multiple cellular processes and associated with the pathogenesis of several diseases. A three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) analysis was performed on a series of GSK-3 inhibitors to understand the structural basis for inhibitory activity. Comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) method was used to derive 3D-QSAR models. A reliable CoMFA model was developed using ligand-based alignment scheme. The model produced statistically acceptable results with a cross-validated correlation coefficient ($q^2$) of 0.594 and a non-cross-validated correlation coefficient ($r^2$) of 0.943. Robustness of the model was checked by bootstrapping and progressive scrambling analysis. This study could assist in the design of novel compounds with enhanced GSK-3 inhibitory activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.778-782
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• 2003

In the course of screening anti-influenza agents from natural products, four neuraminidase inhibitors were isolated from the methanol extract of mushroom Microphorus affinis by purification using solvent partition, silica gel column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20, and semi-preparative HPLC. The chemical structures of these compounds were identified as ${\alpha}-lupeol$, methyl linoleate, methyl palmitate, and methyl oleate by means of spectral data including GC-MS, $^1H-,\;and\;^{13}C-NMR\;with\;IC_{50}$ values of 5.65, 7.07, 7.12, and $7.52\;\mu\textrm{M}$, respectively. They did not inhibit other glycosidases such as glucosidase, mannosidase, and galactosidase, indicating that they were relatively specific inhibitors of neuraminidase. The relationship between the fatty acid structure and inhibitory activity was investigated. The result showed that, in the case of an aliphatic linear hydrocarbon skeleton, at least one carboxyl (presumably any carbonyl) moiety and sixteen carbons were the necessary requirements for potent inhibition, whereas saturated, unsaturated, free, and ester forms did not have any significant effect on the activity.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.258-266
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• 2015

Xanthine Oxidase is an enzyme, which oxidizes hypoxanthine to xanthine, and xanthine to uric acid. It is widely distributed throughout various organs including the liver, gut, lung, kidney, heart, brain and plasma. It is involved in gout pathogenesis. In this study, we have performed Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA) on a series of 2-(indol-5-yl) thiazole derivatives as xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitors to identify the structural variations with their inhibitory activities. Ligand based CoMFA models were generated based on atom-by-atom matching alignment. In atom-by-atom matching, the bioactive conformation of highly active molecule 11 was generated using systematic search. Compounds were aligned using the bioactive conformation and it is used for model generation. Different CoMFA models were generated using different alignments and the best model yielded a cross-validated $q^2$ of 0.698 with five components and non-cross-validated correlation coefficient ($r^2$) of 0.992 with Fisher value as 236.431, and an estimated standard error of 0.068. The predictive ability of the best CoMFA models was found to be $r^2_{pred}$0.653. The CoMFA study revealed that the $R_3$ position of the structure is important in influencing the biological activity of the inhibitors. Electro positive groups and bulkier substituents in this position enhance the biological activity.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.209-213
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• 2015

Influenza A virus (H1N1) causes and spreads infectious diseases and becomes a major health threat in humans. Among the subtypes of influenza virus, neuraminidase (NA) plays an important role in viral life cycle and becomes an attractive therapeutic target. Currently two NA inhibitors namely Zanamivir and Oseltamivir are available for treating infectious diseases. Recently five naturally derived polyphenols extracted from Phellinus baumii was reported as inhibitors against NA. Molecular docking is powerful tool in computer aided drug designing which aids in exploring and elucidating the properties of the molecules from their 3D structure. Hence, in the present study, molecular docking was carried out on reported polyphenols isolated from ethanolic extract of fruiting bodies of Phellinus baumii. The objective of this work was to study the interaction and to propose the binding mode of these compounds within the binding site of H1N1 neuraminidase. The results showed these compounds had better binding energy and H-bond interactions with the important active site residues of the receptor which authenticate these compounds contributes to inhibitory activity of neuraminidase to treat influenza infection.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.190-198
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• 2016

Xanthine Oxidase is an enzyme, which oxidizes hypoxanthine to xanthine, and xanthine to uric acid. It is widely distributed throughout various organsincluding the liver, gut, lung, kidney, heart, brain and plasma. It is involved in gout pathogenesis. In this study, we have performed Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMSIA) on a series of 2-(indol-5-yl) thiazole derivatives as xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitors to identify the structural variations with their inhibitory activities. Ligand based CoMSIA models were generated based on atom-by-atom matching alignment. In atom-by-atom matching, the bioactive conformation of highly active molecule 11 was generated using systematic search. Compounds were aligned using the bioactive conformation and it is used for model generation. Different CoMSIA models were generated using different alignments and the best model yielded across-validated $q^2$ of 0.698 with five components and non-cross-validated correlation coefficient ($r^2$) of 0.992 with Fisher value as 236.431, and an estimated standard error of 0.068. The predictive ability of the best CoMSIA models was found to be $r{^2}_{pred}$ 0.653. The study revealed the important structural features required for the biological activity of the inhibitors and could provide useful for the designing of novel and potent drugs for the inhibition of Xanthine oxidase.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 2017

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important signaling protein involved in angiogenesis, which is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. Consequently, blocking of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR-2) by small molecule inhibitors leads to the inhibition of cancer induced angiogenesis. In this study, we performed a two dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship (2D-QSAR) study of 38 N-Phenyl-N'-{4-(4-quinolyloxy) phenyl} urea derivatives as VEGFR-2 inhibitors based on hologram quantitative structure-activity (HQSAR). The model developed showed reasonable $q^2=0.521$ and $r^2=0.932$ values indicating good predictive ability and reliability. The atomic contribution map analysis of most active compound (compound 7) indicates that hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the side chain of ring A and oxygen atom in side chain of ring C contributes positively to the activity of the compounds. The HQSAR model developed and the atomic contribution map can serve as a guideline in designing new compounds for VEGFR-2 inhibition.