2,3-Dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one as a New Class of Anti-Leishmanial Agents: A Combined Experimental and Computational Study
Muhammad Sarfraz, Chenxi Wang, Nargis Sultana, Humna Ellahi, Muhammad Fayyaz ur Rehman, Muhammad Jameel, Shahzaib Akhter, Fariha Kanwal, Muhammad Ilyas Tariq, Song Xue
Abstract
Leishmaniasis is a neglected parasitic disease caused by various Leishmania species. The discovery of new protozoa drugs makes it easier to treat the disease; but, conventional clinical issues like drug resistance, cumulative toxicity, and target selectivity are also getting attention. So, there is always a need for new therapeutics to treat Leishmaniasis. Here, we have reported 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one derivative as a new class of anti-leishmanial agents. Two derivatives, 3a (6,8-dinitro-2,2-disubstituted-2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones) and 3b (2-(4-chloro-3-nitro-phenyl)-2-methyl-6,8-dinitro-2,3-dihydro-1H-quinazolin-4-one) were prepared that show promising in silico anti-leishmanial activities. Molecular docking was performed against the Leishmanial key proteins including Pyridoxal Kinase and Trypanothione Reductase. The stability of the ligand-protein complexes was further studied by 100 ns MD simulations and MM/PBSA calculations for both compounds. 3b has been shown to be a better anti-leishmanial candidate. In vitro studies also agree with the in-silico results where IC50 for 3a and 3b was 1.61 and 0.05 µg/mL, respectively.