Abstract
Background: Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the female reproductive system characterized by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus that affects 5 to 10% of women of reproductive age, which is approximately 176 million women in the world. The women suffering from endometriosis have been reported to have high levels of matrix metalloproteinase (especially MMP-9) which regulates the inflammatory process. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the naturally available anti-inflammatory fungal compounds that can target the MMP-9 by various in silico approaches.
 Methodology: A wide variety of anti-inflammatory bioactive compounds were screened and five compounds were further selected based on ‘Lipinski’s rule of five’ using the PubChem database. The bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, ADMET properties and biological activity of these compounds were predicted computationally using databases such as SWISS-ADME, PubChem, pkCSM and PASS. The target 1L6J (Crystal structure of human matrix metalloproteinase MMP-9) structure was retrieved from the PDB database. Comparative analysis of the bioactive compounds with the target was performed by AutoDock 4.2.6 and further visualisation of the target residues interacting with the compounds was performed using LigPlot v.2. 2. tool.
 Results: Based on the docking results, the compounds namely, Ergosterol peroxide, Lovastatin, Javanicin, Asperlin and Ergothioneine exhibited binding energy value of -10.25 kcal/mol, -8.4 kcal/mol, -7.64 kcal/mol, -7.07 kcal/mol and -6.19 kcal/mol respectively whereas Elagolix (control drug) exhibited binding energy value of -4.88 kcal/mol, thus, indicating that the selected bioactive compounds were seen to have better binding energy comparative to the control drug. 
 Conclusion: Ergosterol peroxide derived from edible mushroom might act as a potential lead compound for designing a therapeutic drug for treating endometriosis and this compound can further be explored to evaluate its level of toxicity and efficacy in the wet laboratory studies by in vitro and in vivo methods.
Highlights
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease which occurs due to the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity that affects 5 to 10% of women of reproductive age, which is approximately 176 million women in the world
Among the different types of Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs), MMP-9 called as Gelatinase B (GELB) or 92 kDa gelatinase belong to the zinc-metalloproteinase family, which play an important role in tumour formation, angiogenesis-associated diseases and is known to be involved in the degradation of the extracellular matrix
The MMP-9 has been linked with several disorders other than endometriosis such as ovarian carcinoma [14], breast cancer [15], lung cancer [16], endometrial cancer [17], cervical cancer [18], neurodegenerative/ neural diseases [19], hypertensive disorder [20], autoimmune disorder [21], Cardiovascular diseases [22], osteoporosis [23], Arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis and focal brain ischemia, Pregnancyassociated malaria (Placental malaria), Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome [24], Uterine fibroids [25]
Summary
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease which occurs due to the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity that affects 5 to 10% of women of reproductive age (between the ages of 15 to 49), which is approximately 176 million women in the world. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (r-ASRM) classification [7], endometriosis can be categorized into four stages (Table 1) based upon the location, extent, depth of the endometriosis implants, severity of scar tissue and size of endometrial implants in the ovaries. Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the female reproductive system characterized by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus that affects 5 to 10% of women of reproductive age, which is approximately 176 million women in the world. The women suffering from endometriosis have been reported to have high levels of matrix metalloproteinase (especially MMP-9) which regulates the inflammatory process.
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