Repurposing of antibacterial compounds for suppression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis dormancy reactivation by targeting resuscitation-promoting factors B

Abstract

Tuberculosis infection has always been a global concern for public health, and the mortality rate has increased tremendously every year. The ability of the resuscitation Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) from the dormant state is one of the major reasons for the epidemic spread of tuberculosis infection, especially latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). The element that encourages resuscitation, RpfB (resuscitation-promoting factors B), is mostly in charge of bringing Mtb out of slumber. This reason makes RpfB a promising target for developing tuberculosis drugs because of the effects of latent tuberculosis. Therefore, this work was executed using a computational three-level screening of the Selleckhem antibiotics database consisting of 462 antibiotics against the ligand binding region of the RpfB protein, followed by an estimation of binding free energy for ideal identification and confirmation of potential RpfB inhibitor. Subsequently, three antibiotic drug molecules, i.e., Amikacin hydrate (−66.87 kcal/mol), Isepamicin sulphate (−60.8 kcal/mol), and Bekanamycin (−46.89 kcal/mol), were selected on the basis of their binding free energy value for further computational studies in comparison to reference ligand, 4-benzoyl-2-nitrophenyl thiocyanate (NPT7). Based on the intermolecular interaction profiling, 200 ns molecular dynamic simulation (MD), post-simulation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA), the selected antibiotics showed substantial stability with the RpfB protein compared to the NPT7 inhibitor. Conclusively based on the computational results, the preferred drugs can be potent inhibitors of the RpfB protein, which can be further validated using in vivo research and in vitro enzyme inhibition to understand their therapeutic activity against tuberculosis infection. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma