Inhibitors of human lactate dehydrogenase (hLDH5)-the enzyme responsible for the conversion of pyruvate to lactate coupled with oxidation of NADH to NAD⁺-are promising therapeutic agents against cancer because this enzyme is generally found to be overexpressed in most invasive cancer cells and is linked to their vitality especially under hypoxic conditions. Consequently, significant efforts have been made for the identification of small-molecule hLDH5 inhibitors displaying high inhibitory potencies. X-ray structure of hLDH5 complexes as well as molecular modeling studies contribute to identify and explain the main binding modes of hLDH5 inhibitors reported in literature. The purpose of this review is to analyze the main three-dimensional interactions between some of the most potent inhibitors and hLDH5, in order to provide useful suggestions for the design of new derivatives.
Keywords: LDH5; LDH5 inhibitors; ligand–protein interactions; molecular modeling.