Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs) are widely employed as dietary substitutes for classical sugars thanks to their safety profile and low toxicity. In this study, a re-evaluation of the biological effects of steviol (1), the main metabolite from Stevia rebaudiana glycosides, was performed using the Inverse Virtual Screening (IVS) target fishing computational approach. Starting from well-known pharmacological properties of Stevia rebaudiana glycosides, this computational tool was employed for predicting the putative interacting targets of 1 and, afterwards, of its five synthetic ester derivatives 2–6, accounting a large panel of proteins involved in cancer and inflammation events. Applying this methodology, the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) was identified as the putative target partner of 1–6. The predicted ligand-protein interactions were corroborated by transactivation assays, specifically disclosing the agonistic activity of 1 and the antagonistic activities of 2–6 on FXR. The reported results highlight the feasibility of IVS as a fast and potent tool for predicting the interacting targets of query compounds, addressing the re-evaluation of their bioactivity. In light of the obtained results, the presumably safe profile of known compounds, such as the case of steviol (1), is critically discussed.

Inverse Virtual Screening for the rapid re-evaluation of the presumed biological safe profile of natural products. The case of steviol from Stevia rebaudiana glycosides on farnesoid X receptor (FXR)

Potenza M.;Lauro G.;Bifulco G.
2021-01-01

Abstract

Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs) are widely employed as dietary substitutes for classical sugars thanks to their safety profile and low toxicity. In this study, a re-evaluation of the biological effects of steviol (1), the main metabolite from Stevia rebaudiana glycosides, was performed using the Inverse Virtual Screening (IVS) target fishing computational approach. Starting from well-known pharmacological properties of Stevia rebaudiana glycosides, this computational tool was employed for predicting the putative interacting targets of 1 and, afterwards, of its five synthetic ester derivatives 2–6, accounting a large panel of proteins involved in cancer and inflammation events. Applying this methodology, the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) was identified as the putative target partner of 1–6. The predicted ligand-protein interactions were corroborated by transactivation assays, specifically disclosing the agonistic activity of 1 and the antagonistic activities of 2–6 on FXR. The reported results highlight the feasibility of IVS as a fast and potent tool for predicting the interacting targets of query compounds, addressing the re-evaluation of their bioactivity. In light of the obtained results, the presumably safe profile of known compounds, such as the case of steviol (1), is critically discussed.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4771286
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 0
  • Scopus 3
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 2
social impact