An Innovative Approach for Drug Targeting against Huntingtin protein in Huntingtons disease: The search for an Effective therapeutic strategy (KEY IJP************834)

• Dr. Rupak Roy

Abstract

AbstractHuntingtons disease is a neurodegenerative disorder which is characterised by loss of striatal neurons and a decline in motor activity. It is marked by progressive increased levels of Huntingtin protein, which is caused by mutations in Huntingtin gene (Htt) which encodes it. Thus, in our study we aimed to establish the structure of Huntingtin protein using Homology modelling in SWISS-MODEL and Phyre2 and performing its respective docking with three target drug molecules as ligands, namely Benzamide, Pridopidine and Tetrabenazine, the structures of which are retrieved from PubChem database using Autodock Vina. The respective protein-ligand interactions were visualised in PyMol and LigPlot respectively. Amongst the three, pridopidine was found to be the potential drug candidate with the lowest binding energy and thus assumed to be the best candidate in targeting Huntingtin protein and more effective in treating Huntingtons disease. The potency of this drug is further yet to be established using clinical trials in wet lab experimental methods.