Molecular characterization of glutor-GLUT interaction and prediction of glutor's drug-likeness: implications for its utility as an antineoplastic agent

Recent experimental evidence from our and other laboratories has strongly indicated that glutor, a piperazine-2-one derivative, which is a pan-GLUT inhibitor, displays a promising antineoplastic action by hampering glucose uptake owing to its ability to inhibit GLUT1 and GLUT3, which are overexpressed in neoplastic cells. However, the molecular mechanism(s) of the inhibiting action of glutor has remained elusive. Thus, for optimal utilization of the antineoplastic potential of glutor, it is essential to decipher the precise mechanism(s) of its interaction with GLUTs. Therefore, the present investigation was carried out to understand the molecular mechanism(s) of the binding of glutor to GLUT1 and GLUT3 in silico. This study suggests that glutor can effectively bind to GLUTs at the reported binding site. Moreover, the docking of glutor to GLUT was stabilised by several contacts between these two partners as shown by the 200 ns long molecular dynamic simulation carried out using Gromacs, indicating the formation of a stable complex. Moreover, glutor was found to possess all characteristics conducive to its drug-likeness. Hence, these observations suggest that glutor has the potential to be used in antineoplastic therapeutic applications. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma