The Healing Power of Clean Rivers: In Silico Evaluation of the Antipsoriatic Potential of Apiin and Hyperoside Plant Metabolites Contained in River Waters

Valentina Roviello, Melinda Gilhen-Baker, Caterina Vicidomini and Giovanni N. Roviello
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Valentina Roviello: Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale V. Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Melinda Gilhen-Baker: Faculty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Georgian State Teaching University of Physical Education and Sport, 49, Chavchavadze Avenue, 0162 Tbilisi, Georgia
Caterina Vicidomini: Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini IBB—CNR, Area di Ricerca site and Headquartes - Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy
Giovanni N. Roviello: Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini IBB—CNR, Area di Ricerca site and Headquartes - Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-9

Abstract: Humanity may benefit greatly from intact riverine ecosystems not only because they supply water to be used in the most common human activities, but also for the effects that clean rivers can have on human health. Herein, we used a computational approach to show that some phytochemicals produced by riparian plants as secondary metabolites, which are naturally released into river waters, can have therapeutic properties. These include antipsoriatic activities which we demonstrated in silico by modelling the interaction of apiin, guanosine and hyperoside, a few main river plant metabolites, with NF-kB, IL-17 and IL-36, which are recognized targets involved in psoriasis disease. In particular, we found that apiin and hyperoside are endowed with docking energies and binding affinities which are more favorable than the known reference inhibitors of the three protein targets whilst, in silico, guanosine shows comparable activity with respect to the inhibitors of IL-36 and NF-kB. The low skin permeation (logKp < −8) we predicted for apiin and hyperoside led us to hypothesize their possible utilization as topic antipsoriatic therapeutics, and in particular after PAINS (pan-assay interference compounds) score evaluation, we reached the conclusion that apiin, with no predicted tendency to react nonspecifically with the numerous targets involved in the biological cellular pathways, is particularly interesting for the desired therapeutic application.

Keywords: environmental health; plant metabolites; phytomedicine; anti-psoriatic drug; molecular docking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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