Flavonoids can be Potent Inhibitors of Human Phenylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase (hPNMT)

Inhibition of human phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (hPNMT) has been proposed as a method for the treatment of several mental processes which related on adrenaline metabolism. We performed in silico screening to identify flavonoid inhibitors of hPNMT using automated docking method and selected 9 inhibitor candidates based on ligand score (LigScore) and binding free energy (∆Gbind) estimation. Among 9 flavonoid candidates, 7 flavonoids belong to flavones while the rest of them belong to flavanone. All candidates have common chemical features; two hydrogen bond interactions with side chain of Lys75 and backbone carbonyl oxygen of Asn39, and two hydrophobic interactions. One hydrophobic site is formed by Val53, Leu262, and Met258 and the other is made up of Phe182, Ala186, Tyr222, and Val269. This study can be helpful to understand the structural features for inhibition of PNMT and showed flavonoids as promising inhibitor candidates for hPNMT.