The effect of novel antihypertensive drug valsartan on lysozyme aggregation: A combined in situ and in silico study

Nojood Altwaijry; Ghaliah S Almutairi; Mohd Shahhnawaz Khan; Majed S Alokail; Nouf Alafaleq; Rizwan Ali

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15270

The effect of novel antihypertensive drug valsartan on lysozyme aggregation: A combined in situ and in silico study

Heliyon. 2023 Apr 10;9(4):e15270. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15270. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Nojood Altwaijry¹, Ghaliah S Almutairi¹, Mohd Shahhnawaz Khan¹, Majed S Alokail¹, Nouf Alafaleq¹, Rizwan Ali²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² King Abdullah International Medial Research Center (KAIMRC), Medical Research Core Facility and Platforms (MRCFP), King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA), Riyadh, 11481, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Protein misfolding can result in amyloid fiber aggregation, which is associated with various types of diseases. Therefore, preventing or treating abnormally folded proteins may provide therapeutic intervention for these diseases. Valsartan (VAL) is an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) that is used to treat hypertension. In this study, we examine the anti-aggregating effect of VAL against hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) amyloid fibrils through spectroscopy, docking, and microscopic analysis. In vitro formation of HEWL amyloid fibrils was indicated by increased turbidity, RLS (Rayleigh light scattering), and ThT fluorescence intensity. 10 μM VAL, amyloid/aggregation was inhibited up to 83% and 72% as measured by ThT and RLS respectively. In contrast, 100 μM VAL significantly increases the fibril aggregation of HEWL. CD spectroscopy results show a stabilization of HEWL α-helical structures in the presence of 10 μM VAL while the increase in β-sheet was detected at 100 μM concentration of VAL. The hydrophobicity of HEWL was increased at 100 μM VAL, suggesting the promotion of aggregation via its self-association. Steady-state quenching revealed that VAL and HEWL interact spontaneously via hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images illustrate that the needle-like fibers of HEWL amyloid were reduced at 10 μM VAL, while at 100 μM the fibrils of amyloid were increased. Additionally, our computational studies showed that VAL could bind to two binding sites within HEWL. In the BS-1 domain of HEWL, VAL binds to ASN⁵⁹, ILE⁹⁸, ILE⁵⁸, TRP¹⁰⁸, VAL¹⁰⁹, SER⁵⁰, ASP⁵², ASN⁵⁹, ALA¹⁰⁷, and TRP¹⁰⁸ residues with a binding energy of -9.72 kcal mol^-1. Also, it binds to GLU⁷, ALA¹⁰, ALA¹¹, CYS⁶, ARG¹²⁸, and ARG¹⁴ in the BS-2 domain with a binding energy of -5.89 kcal mol^-1. VAL, therefore, appears to have dual effect against HEWL aggregation. We suggest that VAL stabilizes HEWL's aggregation-prone region (APR) at 10 μM, preventing aggregation. Also, we assume that at 100 μM, VAL occupies BS-2 beside BS-1 and destabilizes the folding structure of HEWL, resulting in aggregation. Further studies are needed to investigate the mechanism of action and determine its potential side effects.

Keywords: Circular dichroism; Fluorescence; Lysozyme amyloidosis; Molecular modeling; Valsartan.