Abstract

STRUCTURAL STUDIES OF SIGLEC-6 AS THERAPEUTIC TARGET USING MOLECULAR MODELING TECHNIQUES

Madhumita Dandopath Patra*

ABSTRACT

Siglecs are major homologous subfamily of I-type lectins that are attractive therapeutic target. The primary role of Siglecs may be listed as the recognition and phagocytosis of bacterial pathogens that express sialic acids, cell-cell interactions between neurons and glial cells, maintenance of myelin organization, and inhibition of neurite outgrowth etc. Siglec-6, a member of the Siglec family may mediate cell-cell recognition events by interacting with sialylated glycoprotein ligands. In this work, 3-D structure of human Siglec-6 was predicted using molecular modeling techniques. The structure of the complex in solution of Siglec-6 with ligand, Sialyl-Tn (NeuAcα2, 6GalNAc) was predicted using a novel docking technique. The structural analysis of the complex as well as calculation of theoretical dissociation constant value will help to ascertain functional roles of such sugar binding protein.

Keywords: Modeling, Sialic acid, Siglec-6, Structure.