In silico elucidation of potential drug target sites of the Thumb Index Fold Protein, Wnt-8b

Purpose: The involvement of Wnt-8b in Wnt signaling pathway leads to various cancers. The purpose of this study was to determine the therapeutic compounds from the available library by targeting Wnt-8b using molecular docking analyses.Methods: Threading and comparative modeling approaches were employed to predict the 3D structure of Wnt-8b. Sixty-eight models were evaluated using molprobity, ERRAT and rampage evaluation tools and the model having 82.456 % overall quality value was selected for further analyses. The acyl group was added to the suitable model to satisfy the hydrophobic nature of the Wnt-8b. Literature-derivedcompounds were selected for comparative molecular docking studies using GOLD, AutoDock and AutoDock Vina. Furthermore, docked complexes were analyzed and visualized using Chimera and Ligplot.Results: The compound ZINC04029462 exhibited high binding potential with Wnt-8b and palmitoleic acid and was found common among top 20 compounds of each tool. His-183, Val-185, Ser-186, Gly-187, Ser-188 and Thr-190 residues commonly interacted with compounds and palmitoleic acid and considered as potential interacting residues.Conclusion: Common interacting residues from top 20 compounds of each tool suggest that these compounds may be utilized to inhibit aberrant expression of Wnt-8b. The common inhibitor ZINC04029462 may act as a lead compound for further drug designing against Wnt family.Keywords: Wnt-8b, Cancer, Homology modeling, Molecular docking, AutoDoc