Thromboembolic disorders are the leading cause of human mortality. Therefore, development of effective anticoagulant therapy is critical. Factor XIIIA (FXIIIA) protein is a crucial factor in the blood coagulation cascade, and hence it is a vital target for evolution of new antithrombotic agents. Structure-function studies of clotting factor active sites, clot formation, and thrombus structure have gained prominence in the efforts to develop novel anticoagulants. Factor XIIIA was homology modelled with the human transglutaminase-2 crystal structure as a base template for BLAST analysis. Docking and comparative binding site analysis revealed active site residue conservation and inhibitor-protein interactions. Nineteen small molecules possessing suspected anticoagulant properties were successfully docked into the FXIIIA active site following the best CoMFA and CoMSIA prediction values. Dabigatran etexilate was anticipated to be the best FXIIIA inhibitor among the nineteen anticoagulants with the highest binding affinity for the FXIIIA protein and the highest FlexX dock score of -29.8 KJ/mol. Structural properties of FXIIIA inhibitors with increased antithrombotic activity were predicted by this docking study.
Keywords: Anticoagulants; Antithrombotic therapy; Docking; Factor XIII; QSAR; Thromboembolism; Thrombosis.