In Silico Structure Based Drug Designing of A Potent Inhibitor for Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase A Therapeutic Target for Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia, bilharziasis, bilharziosis or snail fever) is a human disease syndrome caused by infection from one of several species of parasitic trematodes of the genus Schistosoma. Schistosomiasis is a major source of morbidity and mortality in many tropical and sub-tropical countries as well as for travelers from developed countries. Control of the disease depends mainly on chemotherapy, with praziquantel becoming the exclusive drug. Extensive use of praziquantel with concerns about the possibility of drug resistance development, unavailability of an applicable vaccine, and the absence of a reasonable alternative to praziquantel all represent a real challenge. One of the suggested solutions is to exploit the advantages of compounds that proved efficacious at the experimental level with a good safety profile. Purine nucleoside phosphorylase is known to be essential for the recovery of purine bases and nucleosides in schistosomes, due to an absence of the enzymes for de novo synthesis, making it a sensitive point in the parasite’s metabolism. The present paper discusses PNP as an attractive target for drug design for Schistosomiasis. This potential drug candidate developed on Chemsketch, modeller9v7 and Ligbuilder followed by their rigid docking on Hex and flexible docking using AutoDock and Quantum with IC 50 2.511e-0.004 and 7.9 kcal/mol (affinity) might be effective source in curing Schistosomiasis in near future.