FMS-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3) inhibitors with better binding affinity and ADMET properties than sorafenib and gilteritinib against acute myeloid leukemia: in silico studies

Over 30-35% of patients down with AML are caused by mutations of FLT3-ITD and FLT3-TKD which keeps the protein activated while it activates other signaling proteins downstream that are involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. As drug targets, many inhibitors are already in clinical practice. Unfortunately, the average overall survival rate for patients on medication suffering from AML is 5 years despite the huge efforts in this field. To perform docking simulation and ADMET studies on selected phytochemicals against FLT3 protein receptor for drug discovery against FLT3 induced AML, molecular docking simulation was performed using human FLT3 protein target (PDB ID: 6JQR) and 313 phytochemicals with standard anticancer drugs (Sorafenib and Gilteritinib in addition to other anticancer drugs). The crystal structure of the protein was downloaded from the protein data bank and prepared using Biovia Discovery Studio. The chemical structures of the phytochemicals were downloaded from the NCBI PubChem database and prepared using Open Babel and VConf softwares. Molecular docking was performed using PyRx on Autodock Vina. The ADMET properties of the best performing compounds were calculated using SwissADME and pkCMS web servers. The results obtained showed that glabridin, ellipticine and derivatives (elliptinium and 9-methoxyellipticine), mezerein, ursolic acid, formononetin, cycloartocarpesin, hypericin, silymarin, and indirubin are the best performing compounds better than sorafenib and gilteritinib based on their binding affinities. The top-performing compounds which had better binding and ADMET properties than sorafenib and gilteritinib could serve as scaffolds or leads for new drug discovery against FLT3 induced AML.

Automated summary

Mutations in FLT3 account for over 30-35% of AML cases, with current treatments providing only a 5-year average survival rate. Research is ongoing to discover new drug targets that may offer better outcomes for patients.