Paper Citing NAMD - Abstract
Friesen, Douglas E.; Barakat, Khaled H.; Semenchenko, Valentyna; Perez-Pineiro, Rolando; Fenske, Bruce W.; Mane, Jonathan; Wishart, David S.; Tuszynski, Jack A.
Discovery of Small Molecule Inhibitors that Interact with gamma-Tubulin
CHEMICAL BIOLOGY & DRUG DESIGN, 79:639-652, MAY 2012
Recent studies have shown an overexpression of ?-tubulin in human glioblastomas and glioblastoma cell lines. As the 2-year survival rate for glioblastoma is very poor, potential benefit exists for discovering novel chemotherapeutic agents that can inhibit ?-tubulin, which is known to form a ring complex that acts as a microtubule nucleation center. We present experimental evidence that colchicine and combretastatin A-4 bind to ?-tubulin, which are to our knowledge the first drug-like compounds known to interact with ?-tubulin. Molecular dynamics simulations and docking studies were used to analyze the hypothesized ?-tubulin binding domain of these compounds. The suitability of the potential binding modes was evaluated and suggests the subsequent rational design of novel targeted inhibitors of ?-tubulin.
