Virtual screening of novel pathological angiogenesis inhibitors

• Grant number: 18/24678-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2019
• End date: March 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Jose Giordano
• Grantee: Erika Piccirillo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones, is a crucial process in the health and disease. The main factor involved in this process is the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and their receptors, and anti-VEGF therapies have shown that angiogenesis inhibition is an important therapeutic strategy for the treatment of several diseases such as cancer and retinopathies. However, given the central role of VEGF in angiogenesis, side effects and drug resistance are important challenges for this type of therapy. Therefore, it is crucial to search for novel pharmacological approaches for inhibiting angiogenesis. Our group has been addressing this issue in two different ways: we study a pan-inhibitor peptide of VEGF, with a broad spectrum that could be more efficient to treat retinopathies; and we identified, by transcriptomic methods, novel targets specific for pathological angiogenesis. In the first approach, it is known that peptides inhibitors are not suitable drugs candidates and, therefore, we need to develop peptidomimetic compounds. In the second, for many of the novel identified targets there is no known inhibitors. Thus, in the post-doctoral project, we aimed to identify novel inhibitors of angiogenesis by virtual screening applied to huge compound libraries, commercial available, using as targets our pan-inhibitor peptide and the novel molecular targets identified in our transcriptome studies. The identified compound will be tested using angiogenesis models available in the group. Therefore, we expected to identify a novel generation of neovascularization inhibitors having important therapeutic potential for human health.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VIVIANI, LUCAS G.; PICCIRILLO, ERIKA; ULRICH, HENNING; AMARAL, ANTONIA T-DO. Virtual Screening Approach for the Identification of Hydroxamic Acids as Novel Human Ecto-5 `-Nucleotidase Inhibitors. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL INFORMATION AND MODELING, v. 60, n. 2, p. 621-630, FEB 2020. (14/07248-0, 12/50880-4, 18/24678-0, 12/06633-2, 18/07366-4, 13/07937-8, 18/06381-0)

VIVIANI, LUCAS G.; PICCIRILLO, ERIKA; ULRICH, HENNING; AMARAL, ANTONIA T-DO. Virtual Screening Approach for the Identification of Hydroxamic Acids as Novel Human Ecto-5 '-Nucleotidase Inhibitors. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL INFORMATION AND MODELING, v. 60, n. 2, p. 10-pg., 2020-02-01. (13/07937-8, 12/50880-4, 18/06381-0, 18/24678-0, 12/06633-2, 18/07366-4, 14/07248-0)