Identification of Potential Dual-Targets Anti-Toxoplasma gondii Compounds Through Structure-Based Virtual Screening and In-Vitro Studies

Toxoplasma gondiiis the etiologic agent of toxoplasmosis, a disease which can lead to morbidity and mortality of the fetus and immunocompromised individuals. Due to the limited effectiveness or side effects of existing drugs, the search for better drug can didates is still ongoing. In this study, we performed structure-based screening of potential dual-targets inhibitors of active sites ofT. gondiidrug targets such as uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRTase) and adenosine kinase (AK). First screening of virtual compounds from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was performedviamolecular docking. Subsequently, the hit compounds were testedin-vitrofor anti-T. gondiieffect using cell viability assay with Vero cells as host to determine cytotoxicity effects and drug selectivities. Clindamycin, as positive control, showed a selectivity index (SI) of 10.9, thus compounds with SI > 10.9 specifically targetT. gondiiproliferation with no significant effect on the host cells. Good anti-T. gondiieffects were observed with NSC77468 (7-ethoxy-4-methyl-6,7-dihydro-5H-thiopyrano[2,3-d] pyrimidin-2-amine) which showed SI values of 25. This study showed thatin-silicoselection can serve as an effective way to discover potentially potent and selective compounds againstT. gondii.