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Molecular dynamics and binding energy analysis of Vatairea guianensis lectin: a new tool for cancer studies

Benildo Sousa Cavada, Vinicius Jose Silva Osterne, Vanir Reis Pinto-Junior, Luiz Augusto Gomez Souza, Claudia Figueiredo Lossio, Mayara Torquato Lima Silva, Corneville Correia-Neto, Messias Vital Oliveira, Jorge Luis Almeida Correia, Antonio Hadson Bastos Neco, Jorge Luiz Coelho Domingos, Wandemberg Paiva Ferreira, Gil Aquino Farias & Kyria Santiago Nascimento

Journal of Molecular Modeling volume 26, Article number: 22 (2020)

2020

arXiv.org
Acess article

Abstract

The Tn antigen is an epitope containing N-acetyl-D-galactosamine present in the extracellular matrix of some carcinoma cells in humans, and it is often used as a biomarker. Lectins are proteins capable of binding to carbohydrates and can be used as a molecular tool to recognize antigens and to differentiate cancer cells from normal cells. In this context, the present work aimed to characterize the interaction of Vatairea guianensis seed lectin with N-acetyl-D-galactosamine and the Tn antigen by molecular dynamics and molecular mechanics/Poisson–Boltzmann solvent-accessible surface area analysis. This study revealed new interacting residues not previously identified in static analysis of the three-dimensional structures of Vatairea lectins, as well as the configuration taken by the carbohydrate recognition domain, as it interacts with each ligand. During the molecular dynamics simulations, Vatairea guianensis lectin was able to bind stably to Tn antigen, which, as seen previously for other lectins, enables its use in cancer research, diagnosis, and therapy. This work further demonstrates the efficiency of bioinformatics in lectinology.

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