Exploring N1-p-Fluorobenzyl-Cymserine as an Inhibitor of 5-Lipoxygenase as a Candidate for Type 2 Diabetes and Neurodegenerative Disorder Treatment

Developing a single selective ligand to a target relevant to two mechanistically interlinked diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and a neurodegenerative disorder, like Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease, provides the potential for an effective treatment that may impact both. The enzyme 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) has been revealed responsible for producing fatty acid molecules, leukotrienes. These leukotrienes are known to produce inflammatory responses in asthma and allergic reactions, to induce a reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase in brain, and are involved in the development of cardiac strokes, obesity and type 2 diabetes. N1-p-fluorobenzyl-cymserine (FBC), an analogue of cymserine and a known cholineterase inhibitor, was evaluated for inhibition of pleiotropic 5-LOX in our study. The stable 3D structure of 5-LOX was obtained from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) database and was implied for homology modeling of four reported mutant models. Each generated model was submitted to the Protein Model Database (PMDB) and employed for measuring inhibition and ligand efficiency of FBC with support of molecular docking. For each model, normal as well as mutant, FBC yielded remarkable inhibition constant values, with exothermic free binding energies. The current study revealed a highly reactive narrow fissure near the non-heme iron binding pocket of 5-LOX that contains residues crucial for 5-LOX stability and FBC binding. Investigating the binding of FBC with stabilized and destabilized 5-LOX structures confirmed it as a candidate therapeutic inhibitor worthy of assessment in preclinical models of T2DM and neurodegeneration.