SGK1 (Serum and Glucocorticoid Regulated Kinase 1), a serine/threonine kinase that is activated by various stimuli, including serum and glucocorticoids. It controls inflammation, apoptosis, hormone release, neuro-excitability and cell proliferation, all of which play an important role in cancer progression and metastasis. SGK1 was recently proposed as a potential drug target for cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, molecular docking, physiochemical, toxicological properties and molecular dynamic simulation of the Bis-[1-N,7-N, Pyrazolo tetraethoxyphthalimido{-4-(3,5-Dimethyl-4-(spiro-3-methylpyazolo)-1,7-dihydro-1H-dipyrazolo[3,4-b;4',3'-e]pyridin-8-yl)}]p-disubstituted phenyl compoundsand reference EMD638683 against new SGK1 target protein. Compared to the reference inhibitor EMD638683, we choose the best compounds (series 2-6) based on the binding energy (in the range from -11.0 to -10.6 kcal/mol). With the exception of compounds 2 and 6, none of the compounds posed a risk for AMES toxicity or carcinogenicity due to their toxicological properties. 100 ns MD simulation accompanied by MM/PBSA energy calculations and PCA. According to MD simulation results, the binding of compounds 3, 4 and 5 stabilizes the SGK1 structure and causes febrile conformational changes compared to EMD638683. As a result of this research, the final selected compounds 3, 4 and 5 can be used as scaffolds to develop promising SGK1 inhibitors for the treatment of related diseases such as cancer.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
Keywords: MM/PBSA; Serum/glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1; cancer; molecular docking; molecular dynamics simulation; synthetic compounds.