In silico identification of 1,2,4-triazoles as potential Candida Albicans inhibitors using 3D-QSAR, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and ADMET profiling

Abstract

Fluconazole and Voriconazole are individual antifungal inhibitors broadly adopted for treating fungal infections, including Candida Albicans. Unfortunately, these medicines clinically used have significant side effects. Consequently, the improvement of safer and better therapy became more indispensable. In this study, a set of 27 1,2,4-triazole compounds have been tested as potential Candida Albicans inhibitors by using different theoretical methods. The created comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) contour maps significantly impacted the development of novel Candida Albicans inhibitors with valuable activities. The mode of interactions between the 1,2,4-triazole inhibitors and the targeted receptor was studied by molecular docking simulation. The proposed new molecule P1 showed satisfied stability in the active pocket of the targeted receptor compared to the more active molecule in the dataset compared to Fluconazole medication. Meanwhile, the binding energy obtained by molecular docking for molecule P1 is - 9.3 kcal/mol compared with - 6.7 kcal/mol for Fluconazole medication. Also, MM/GBSA value obtained by molecular dynamics simulations at 100 ns for molecule P1 is - 33.34 kcal/mol compared with - 15.85 kcal/mol for Fluconazole medication. In addition, molecule P1 showed good oral bioavailability and was non-toxic according to ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) properties. Therefore, the results indicated compound P1 might be a future inhibitor of Candida Albicans infection.

Keywords: 3D-QSAR; ADMET; Candida Albicans; MD simulations; Molecular docking; Triazole.