Browsing by Author "Oselusi, Samson O."

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    Cheminformatic profiling and hit prioritization of natural products with activities against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)
    (MPDI, 2021) Oselusi, Samson O.; Egieyeh, Samuel A.; Christoffels, Alan
    Several natural products (NPs) have displayed varying in vitro activities against methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, few of these compounds have not been developed into potential antimicrobial drug candidates. This may be due to the high cost and tedious and time-consuming process of conducting the necessary preclinical tests on these compounds. In this study, cheminformatic profiling was performed on 111 anti-MRSA NPs (AMNPs), using a few orally administered conventional drugs for MRSA (CDs) as reference, to identify compounds with prospects to become drug candidates. This was followed by prioritizing these hits and identifying the liabilities among the AMNPs for possible optimization. Cheminformatic profiling revealed that most of the AMNPs were within the required drug-like region of the investigated properties. For example, more than 76% of the AMNPs showed compliance with the Lipinski, Veber, and Egan predictive rules for oral absorption and permeability. About 34% of the AMNPs showed the prospect to penetrate the blood–brain barrier (BBB), an advantage over the CDs, which are generally non-permeant of BBB. The analysis of toxicity revealed that 59% of the AMNPs might have negligible or no toxicity risks. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) analysis revealed chemical groups that may be determinants of the reported bioactivity of the compounds. A hit prioritization strategy using a novel “desirability scoring function” was able to identify AMNPs with the desired drug-likeness.
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    Synthesis of ester-linked ursolic acid-based hybrid compounds: Potential antibacterial and anticancer agents
    (Wiley, 2023) Khwaza, Vuyolwethu; Oyedeji, Opeoluwa O.; Oselusi, Samson O.
    The molecular hybridization of two or more drugs into a single molecule is an effective drug design approach to reduce pill burden and improve patient treatment adherence. Ursolic acid-based hybrid compounds were synthesized and characterized followed by molecular docking studies. In vitro studies against various bacterial strains and human cancer cells (MDA-MB-231, HeLa, and MCF-7) were performed. Compounds 14–19, 21, 34, 31, and 30 demonstrated significant antibacterial activities with MIC values of 15.625 μg/ml. Compounds 29 and 34 were more cytotoxic than ursolic acid, with IC50 values of 46.99 and 48.18 μg/ml. Compounds 29 and 34 in the docking studies presented favourable binding interactions and better docking energy against the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) than the parent compound, ursolic acid. The findings revealed that the ursolic acid scaffold is a promising precursor for the development of molecules with promising anticancer and antimicrobial activities. However, more studies are needed to fully understand their mode of action.