In Silico ADMET Studies, Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Thiadiazole Derivatives for the Identification of Putative HsaA Monooxygenase Inhibitors

Introduction: The rise of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) represents a substantial public health challenge. Current TB treatments involve the combination of several antibiotics and other agents. However, the development of drug resistance, reduced bioavailability, and elevated toxicity have rendered most of the drugs less effective. Method: To resolve this problem, the identification of novel anti-tuberculosis agents with novel mechanisms of action is the need of the hour. HsaA monooxygenase is an enzyme involved in cholesterol metabolism, particularly in certain strains of Mycobacterium bacteria. This research focuses on discovering new inhibitors for HsaA from a pool of 40 compounds using computational techniques like molecular docking and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations along with comparing it with GSK2556286. Results: Docking studies revealed that AK05 and AK13 showed good binding affinity as compared to GSK2556286. The docking scores of AK05, AK13, and GSK2556286 are -9.4, -9.0, and -8.9 kcal/mol, respectively. ADMET studies showed that these thiadiazole derivatives can be investigated as lead molecules for the development of novel antituberculosis drugs. MD simulation studies showed that both of the compounds AK05 and AK13 were stable at the binding site with RMSD below 0.25 nm. Conclusion: All these findings demonstrated that AK05 and AK13 could be used as potent compounds for the development of HsaA monooxygenase inhibitors.