Revisiting Aldehyde Oxidase Mediated Metabolism in Drug-like Molecules: An Improved Computational Model

J Med Chem. 2020 Jun 25;63(12):6523-6537. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01895. Epub 2020 Mar 31.

Abstract

Aldehyde oxidase (AOX) is a drug metabolizing molybdo-flavoenzyme that has gained increasing attention because of contribution to the biotransformation in phase I metabolism of xenobiotics. Unfortunately, the intra- and interspecies variations in AOX activity and lack of reliable and predictive animal models make evaluation of AOX-catalyzed metabolism prone to be misleading. In this study, we developed an improved computational model integrating both atom-level and molecule-level features to predict whether a drug-like molecule is a potential human AOX (hAOX) substrate and to identify the corresponding sites of metabolism. Additionally, we combined the proposed computational strategy and in vitro experiments for evaluating the metabolic property of a series of epigenetic-related drug candidates still in the early stage of development. In summary, this study provides an improved strategy to evaluate the liability of molecules toward hAOX and offers useful information for accelerating the drug design and optimization stage.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aldehyde Oxidase / metabolism*
  • Biotransformation
  • Computer Simulation*
  • Drug Design*
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Humans
  • Inactivation, Metabolic
  • Liver / drug effects*
  • Liver / enzymology*
  • Xenobiotics / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Xenobiotics
  • Aldehyde Oxidase