Using a Consensus Docking Approach to Predict Adverse Drug Reactions in Combination Drug Therapies for Gulf War Illness

Department

Research

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

International Journal Of Molecular Sciences

Abstract

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multisymptom illness characterized by fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and gastrointestinal and cognitive dysfunction believed to stem from chemical exposures during the 1990⁻1991 Persian Gulf War. There are currently no treatments; however, previous studies have predicted a putative multi-intervention treatment composed of inhibiting Th1 immune cytokines followed by inhibition of the glucocorticoid receptor (GCR) to treat GWI. These predictions suggest the use of specific monoclonal antibodies or suramin to target interleukin-2 and tumor necrosis factor α , followed by mifepristone to inhibit the GCR. In addition to this putative treatment strategy, there exist a variety of medications that target GWI symptomatology. As pharmaceuticals are promiscuous molecules, binding to multiple sites beyond their intended targets, leading to off-target interactions, it is key to ensure that none of these medications interfere with the proposed treatment avenue. Here, we used the drug docking programs AutoDock 4.2, AutoDock Vina, and Schrödinger's Glide to assess the potential off-target immune and hormone interactions of 43 FDA-approved drugs commonly used to treat GWI symptoms in order to determine their putative polypharmacology and minimize adverse drug effects in a combined pharmaceutical treatment. Several of these FDA-approved drugs were predicted to be novel binders of immune and hormonal targets, suggesting caution for their use in the proposed GWI treatment strategy symptoms.

DOI

10.3390/ijms19113355

Volume

19

Issue

11

Publication Date

10-26-2018

Medical Subject Headings

Cognitive Dysfunction (complications, drug therapy, metabolism); Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions (etiology, metabolism); Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic (complications, drug therapy, metabolism); Gastrointestinal Diseases (complications, drug therapy, metabolism); Gulf War; Humans; Molecular Docking Simulation; Molecular Targeted Therapy (methods); Musculoskeletal Pain (complications, drug therapy, metabolism); Polypharmacology; Software

PubMed ID

30373189

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