In Silico Drug Design and Analysis of Dual Amyloid-Beta and Tau Protein-Aggregation Inhibitors for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and irreversible neurodegenerative disorder that gradually leads to the state of dementia. The main features of AD include the deposition of amyloid-beta peptides (Aβ), forming senile plaques, and the development of neurofibrillary tangles due to the accumulation of hyperphosphorylated Tau protein (p-tau) within the brain cells. In this report, seven dual-inhibitor molecules (L1–7) that can prevent the aggregation of both Aβ and p-tau are suggested. The drug-like features and identification of the target proteins are analyzed by the in silico method. L1–7 show positive results in both Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB) crossing and gastrointestinal absorption, rendering to the results of the permeation method. The molecular docking test performed for L1–7 shows binding energies in the range of −4.9 to −6.0 kcal/mol towards Aβ, and −4.6 to −5.6 kcal/mol for p-tau. The drug’s effectiveness under physiological conditions is assessed by the use of solvation models on the investigated systems. Further, the photophysical properties of L1–3 are predicted using TD-DFT studies.

Keywords

• Alzheimer’s disease
• tau protein
• amyloid beta
• dual inhibitors
• molecular docking
• MD simulation