Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 88 in total

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  1. Hariyono P, Kotta JC, Adhipandito CF, Aprilianto E, Candaya EJ, Wahab HA, et al.
    Appl Biol Chem, 2021;64(1):69.
    PMID: 34549099 DOI: 10.1186/s13765-021-00639-w
    The H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the H5N1 outbreak in 2005 have shocked the world as millions of people were infected and hundreds of thousands died due to the infections by the influenza virus. Oseltamivir, the most common drug to block the viral life cycle by inhibiting neuraminidase (NA) enzyme, has been less effective in some resistant cases due to the virus mutation. Presently, the binding of 10 chalcone derivatives towards H5N1 and H1N1 NAs in the non-catalytic and catalytic sites was studied using molecular docking. The in silico study was also conducted for its drug-like likeness such as Lipinski Rule, mutagenicity, toxicity and pharmacokinetic profiles. The result demonstrates that two chalcones (1c and 2b) have the potential for future NA inhibitor development. Compound 1c inhibits H5N1 NA and H1N1 NA with IC50 of 27.63 µM and 28.11 µM, respectively, whereas compound 2b inhibits NAs with IC50 of 87.54 µM and 73.17 µM for H5N1 and H1N1, respectively. The in silico drug-like likeness prediction reveals that 1c is 62% better than 2b (58%) in meeting the criteria. The results suggested that 1c and 2b have potencies to be developed as non-competitive inhibitors of neuraminidase for the future development of anti-influenza drugs.

    Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13765-021-00639-w.

  2. Osman H, Idris NH, Kamarulzaman EE, Wahab HA, Hassan MZ
    Acta Pharm Sin B, 2017 Jul;7(4):479-484.
    PMID: 28752033 DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2017.04.009
    Dengue is a severe mosquito-borne viral infection causing half a million deaths annually. Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 protease is a validated target for anti-dengue drug design. A series of hitherto unreported 3,5-bis(arylidene)-4-piperidones analogues 4a-4j were synthesized and screened in silico against DENV2 NS2B/NS3 protease to elucidate their binding mechanism and orientation around the active sites. Results were validated through an in vitro DENV2 NS2B/NS3 protease assay using a fluorogenic Boc-Gly-Arg-Arg-AMC substrate. Nitro derivatives of 3,5-bis(arylidene)-4-piperidones (4e and 4j) emerged as promising lead molecules for novel protease inhibitors with an IC50 of 15.22 and 16.23 µmol/L, respectively, compared to the standard, panduratin A, having IC50 of 57.28 µmol/L.
  3. Noh NA, Wahab HA, Bakar Ah SH, Islam MR
    Soc Work Public Health, 2016 Aug-Sep;31(5):419-30.
    PMID: 27177326 DOI: 10.1080/19371918.2015.1125321
    The objective of this study was to know the status of the foreign workers' access to public health services in Malaysia based on their utilization pattern. The utilization pattern covered a number of areas, such as frequency of using health services, status of using health services, choice and types of health institutions, and cost of health treatment. The study was conducted on six government hospitals in the Klang Valley area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Data were collected from 600 foreign patients working in the country, using an interview method with a structured questionnaire. The results showed that the foreign workers' access to public health services was very low. The findings would be an important guideline to formulate an effective health service policy for the foreign workers in Malaysia.
  4. Yunos NM, Wahab HA, Al-Thiabat MG, Sallehudin NJ, Jauri MH
    Plants (Basel), 2023 Jul 31;12(15).
    PMID: 37570981 DOI: 10.3390/plants12152827
    Eurycomanone and eurycomalactone are known quassinoids present in the roots and stems of Eurycoma longifolia. These compounds had been reported to have cytotoxic effects, however, their mechanism of action in a few cancer cell lines have yet to be elucidated. This study was aimed at investigating the anticancer effects and mechanisms of action of eurycomanone and eurycomalactone in cervical (HeLa), colorectal (HT29) and ovarian (A2780) cancer cell lines via Sulforhodamine B assay. Their mechanism of cell death was evaluated based on Hoechst 33342 assay and in silico molecular docking toward DHFR and TNF-α as putative protein targets. Eurycomanone and eurycomalactone exhibited in vitro anticancer effects manifesting IC50 values of 4.58 ± 0.090 µM and 1.60 ± 0.12 µM (HeLa), 1.22 ± 0.11 µM and 2.21 ± 0.049 µM (HT-29), and 1.37 ± 0.13 µM and 2.46 ± 0.081 µM (A2780), respectively. They induced apoptotic cancer cell death in dose- and time-dependent manners. Both eurycomanone and eurycomalactone were also predicted to have good inhibitory potential as demonstrated by the docking into TNF-α with binding affinity of -8.83 and -7.51 kcal/mol, respectively, as well as into DHFR with binding affinity results of -8.05 and -8.87 kcal/mol, respectively. These results support the evidence of eurycomanone and eurycomalactone as anticancer agents via apoptotic cell death mechanism that could be associated with TNF-α and DHFR inhibition as among possible protein targets.
  5. Salin NH, Hariono M, Khalili NSD, Zakaria II, Saqallah FG, Mohamad Taib MNA, et al.
    Front Mol Biosci, 2022;9:875424.
    PMID: 36465554 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.875424
    According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of week 23 of 2022, there were more than 1,311 cases of dengue in Malaysia, with 13 deaths reported. Furthermore, there was an increase of 65.7% during the same period in 2021. Despite the increase in cumulative dengue incidence, there is no effective antiviral drug available for dengue treatment. This work aimed to evaluate several nitro-benzylidene phenazine compounds, especially those that contain 4-hydroxy-3,5-bis((2-(4-nitrophenyl)hydrazinylidene)-methyl)benzoate through pharmacophore queries selection method as potential dengue virus 2 (DENV2) NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitors. Herein, molecular docking was employed to correlate the energies of selected hits' free binding and their binding affinities. Pan assay interference compounds (PAINS) filter was also adopted to identify and assess the drug-likeness, toxicity, mutagenicity potentials, and pharmacokinetic profiles to select hit compounds that can be considered as lead DENV2 NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitors. Molecular dynamics assessment of two nitro-benzylidene phenazine derivatives bearing dinitro and hydroxy groups at the benzylidene ring showed their stability at the main binding pocket of DENV2 protease, where their MM-PBSA binding energies were between -22.53 and -17.01 kcal/mol. This work reports those two nitro-benzylidene phenazine derivatives as hits with 52-55% efficiency as antiviral candidates. Therefore, further optimisation is required to minimise the lead compounds' toxicity and mutagenicity.
  6. Wahab HA, Noordin MY, Izman S, Kurniawan D
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2013;2013:631936.
    PMID: 23997678 DOI: 10.1155/2013/631936
    Electroplated nickel coating on cemented carbide is a potential pretreatment technique for providing an interlayer prior to diamond deposition on the hard metal substrate. The electroplated nickel coating is expected to be of high quality, for example, indicated by having adequate thickness and uniformity. Electroplating parameters should be set accordingly for this purpose. In this study, the gap distances between the electrodes and duration of electroplating process are the investigated variables. Their effect on the coating thickness and uniformity was analyzed and quantified using design of experiment. The nickel deposition was carried out by electroplating in a standard Watt's solution keeping other plating parameters (current: 0.1 Amp, electric potential: 1.0 V, and pH: 3.5) constant. The gap distance between anode and cathode varied at 5, 10, and 15 mm, while the plating time was 10, 20, and 30 minutes. Coating thickness was found to be proportional to the plating time and inversely proportional to the electrode gap distance, while the uniformity tends to improve at a large electrode gap. Empirical models of both coating thickness and uniformity were developed within the ranges of the gap distance and plating time settings, and an optimized solution was determined using these models.
  7. Norshidah H, Leow CH, Ezleen KE, Wahab HA, Vignesh R, Rasul A, et al.
    Front Cell Infect Microbiol, 2023;13:1061937.
    PMID: 36864886 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1061937
    An increase in the occurrence of viral infectious diseases is a global concern for human health. According to a WHO report, dengue virus (DENV) is one of the most common viral diseases affecting approximately 400 million people annually, with worsening symptoms in nearly 1% of cases. Both academic and industrial researchers have conducted numerous studies on viral epidemiology, virus structure and function, source and route of infection, treatment targets, vaccines, and drugs. The development of CYD-TDV or Dengvaxia® vaccine has been a major milestone in dengue treatment. However, evidence has shown that vaccines have some drawbacks and limitations. Therefore, researchers are developing dengue antivirals to curb infections. DENV NS2B/NS3 protease is a DENV enzyme essential for replication and virus assembly, making it an interesting antiviral target. For faster hit and lead recognition of DENV targets, methods to screen large number of molecules at lower costs are essential. Similarly, an integrated and multidisciplinary approach involving in silico screening and confirmation of biological activity is required. In this review, we discuss recent strategies for searching for novel DENV NS2B/NS3 protease inhibitors from the in silico and in vitro perspectives, either by applying one of the approaches or by integrating both. Therefore, we hope that our review will encourage researchers to integrate the best strategies and encourage further developments in this area.
  8. Faisalina AF, Sonvico F, Colombo P, Amirul AA, Wahab HA, Majid MIA
    Nanomaterials (Basel), 2020 Oct 26;10(11).
    PMID: 33114572 DOI: 10.3390/nano10112123
    Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) copolymers show a relatively higher in vivo degradation rate compared to other PHAs, thus, they receive a great deal of attention for a wide range of medical applications. Nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with poorly water-soluble anticancer drug docetaxel (DCX) were produced using poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate), P(3HB-co-4HB), copolymers biosynthesised from Cupriavidus malaysiensis USMAA1020 isolated from the Malaysian environment. Three copolymers with different molar proportions of 4-hydroxybutirate (4HB) were used: 16% (PHB16), 30% (PHB30) and 70% (PHB70) 4HB-containing P(3HB-co-4HB). Blank and DCX-loaded nanoparticles were then characterized for their size and size distribution, surface charge, encapsulation efficiency and drug release. Preformulation studies showed that an optimised formulation could be achieved through the emulsification/solvent evaporation method using PHB70 with the addition of 1.0% PVA, as stabilizer and 0.03% VitE-TPGS, as surfactant. DCX-loaded PHB70 nanoparticles (DCX-PHB70) gave the desired particle size distribution in terms of average particle size around 150 nm and narrow particle size distribution (polydispersity index (PDI) below 0.100). The encapsulation efficiency result showed that at 30% w/w drug-to-polymer ratio: DCX- PHB16 NPs were able to encapsulate up to 42% of DCX; DCX-PHB30 NPs encapsulated up to 46% of DCX and DCX-PHB70 NPs encapsulated up to 50% of DCX within the nanoparticle system. Approximately 60% of DCX was released from the DCX-PHB70 NPs within 7 days for 5%, 10% and 20% of drug-to-polymer ratio while for the 30% and 40% drug-to-polymer ratios, an almost complete drug release (98%) after 7 days of incubation was observed.
  9. Vargas-Nadal G, Köber M, Nsamela A, Terenziani F, Sissa C, Pescina S, et al.
    Pharmaceutics, 2022 Nov 17;14(11).
    PMID: 36432688 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14112498
    Fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) are a large family of nanostructures constituted by organic components that emit light in different spectral regions upon excitation, due to the presence of organic fluorophores. FONs are of great interest for numerous biological and medical applications, due to their high tunability in terms of composition, morphology, surface functionalization, and optical properties. Multifunctional FONs combine several functionalities in a single nanostructure (emission of light, carriers for drug-delivery, functionalization with targeting ligands, etc.), opening the possibility of using the same nanoparticle for diagnosis and therapy. The preparation, characterization, and application of these multifunctional FONs require a multidisciplinary approach. In this review, we present FONs following a tutorial approach, with the aim of providing a general overview of the different aspects of the design, preparation, and characterization of FONs. The review encompasses the most common FONs developed to date, the description of the most important features of fluorophores that determine the optical properties of FONs, an overview of the preparation methods and of the optical characterization techniques, and the description of the theoretical approaches that are currently adopted for modeling FONs. The last part of the review is devoted to a non-exhaustive selection of some recent biomedical applications of FONs.
  10. Mazzolari A, Nunes-Alves A, Wahab HA, Amaro RE, Cournia Z, Merz KM
    J Chem Inf Model, 2020 07 27;60(7):3328-3330.
    PMID: 32623887 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00636
    In this Viewpoint, we provide a commentary on the impact of the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling Special Issue on Women in Computational Chemistry published in May 2019 and the feedback we received.
  11. Mazlan MKN, Mohd Tazizi MHD, Ahmad R, Noh MAA, Bakhtiar A, Wahab HA, et al.
    Antibiotics (Basel), 2021 Jul 25;10(8).
    PMID: 34438958 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics10080908
    Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the microorganism that causes tuberculosis. This infectious disease has been around for centuries, with the earliest record of Mtb around three million years ago. The discovery of the antituberculosis agents in the 20th century has managed to improve the recovery rate and reduce the death rate tremendously. However, the conventional antituberculosis therapy is complicated by the development of resistant strains and adverse drug reactions experienced by the patients. Research has been conducted continuously to discover new, safe, and effective antituberculosis drugs. In the last 50 years, only two molecules were approved despite laborious work and costly research. The repurposing of drugs is also being done with few drugs; antibiotics, particularly, were found to have antituberculosis activity. Besides the discovery work, enhancing the delivery of currently available antituberculosis drugs is also being researched. Targeted drug delivery may be a potentially useful approach to be developed into clinically accepted treatment modalities. Active targeting utilizes a specifically designed targeting agent to deliver a chemically conjugated drug(s) towards Mtb. Passive targeting is very widely explored, with the development of multiple types of nanoparticles from organic and inorganic materials. The nanoparticles will be engulfed by macrophages and this will eliminate the Mtb that is present in the macrophages, or the encapsulated drug may be released at the sites of infections that may be in the form of intra- and extrapulmonary tuberculosis. This article provided an overview on the history of tuberculosis and the currently available treatment options, followed by discussions on the discovery of new antituberculosis drugs and active and passive targeting approaches against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
  12. Khaw KY, Choi SB, Tan SC, Wahab HA, Chan KL, Murugaiyah V
    Phytomedicine, 2014 Sep 25;21(11):1303-9.
    PMID: 25172794 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2014.06.017
    Garcinia mangostana is a well-known tropical plant found mostly in South East Asia. The present study investigated acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activities of G. mangostana extract and its chemical constituents using Ellman's colorimetric method. Cholinesterase inhibitory-guided approach led to identification of six bioactive prenylated xanthones showing moderate to potent cholinesterases inhibition with IC50 values of lower than 20.5 μM. The most potent inhibitor of AChE was garcinone C while γ-mangostin was the most potent inhibitor of BChE with IC50 values of 1.24 and 1.78 μM, respectively. Among the xanthones, mangostanol, 3-isomangostin, garcinone C and α-mangostin are AChE selective inhibitors, 8-deoxygartanin is a BChE selective inhibitor while γ-mangostin is a dual inhibitor. Preliminary structure-activity relationship suggests the importance of the C-8 prenyl and C-7 hydroxy groups for good AChE and BChE inhibitory activities. The enzyme kinetic studies indicate that both α-mangostin and garcinone C are mixed-mode inhibitors, while γ-mangostin is a non-competitive inhibitor of AChE. In contrast, both γ-mangostin and garcinone C are uncompetitive inhibitors, while α-mangostin is a mixed-mode inhibitor of BChE. Molecular docking studies revealed that α-mangostin, γ-mangostin and garcinone C interacts differently with the five important regions of AChE and BChE. The nature of protein-ligand interactions is mainly hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding. These bioactive prenylated xanthones are worthy for further investigations.
  13. Wahab HA, Yam WK, Samian MR, Najimudin N
    J Biomol Struct Dyn, 2008 Aug;26(1):131-46.
    PMID: 18533733
    Macrolides are a group of diverse class of naturally occurring and synthetic antibiotics made of macrocyclic-lactone ring carrying one or more sugar moieties linked to various atoms of the lactone ring. These macrolides selectively bind to a single high affinity site on the prokaryotic 50S ribosomal subunit, making them highly effective towards a wide range of bacterial pathogens. The understanding of binding between macrolides and ribosome serves a good basis in elucidating how they work at the molecular level and these findings would be important in rational drug design. Here, we report refinement of reconstructed PDB structure of erythromycin-ribosome system using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Interesting findings were observed in this refinement stage that could improve the understanding of the binding of erythromycin A (ERYA) onto the 50S subunit. The results showed ERYA was highly hydrated and water molecules were found to be important in bridging hydrogen bond at the binding pocket during the simulation time. ERYA binding to ribosome was also strengthened by hydrogen bond network and hydrophobic interactions between the antibiotic and the ribosome. Our MD simulation also demonstrated direct interaction of ERYA with Domains II, V and with C1773 (U1782EC), a residue in Domain IV that has yet been described of its role in ERYA binding. It is hoped that this refinement will serve as a starting model for a further enhancement of our understanding towards the binding of ERYA to ribosome.
  14. Wahab HA, Ahmad Khairudin NB, Samian MR, Najimudin N
    BMC Struct Biol, 2006;6:23.
    PMID: 17076907
    Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), are biodegradable polyesters derived from many microorganisms such as the pseudomonads. These polyesters are in great demand especially in the packaging industries, the medical line as well as the paint industries. The enzyme responsible in catalyzing the formation of PHA is PHA synthase. Due to the limited structural information, its functional properties including catalysis are lacking. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the structural properties as well as its catalytic mechanism by predicting the three-dimensional (3D) model of the Type II Pseudomonas sp. USM 4-55 PHA synthase 1 (PhaC1P.sp USM 4-55).
  15. Mohamad S, Zin NM, Wahab HA, Ibrahim P, Sulaiman SF, Zahariluddin AS, et al.
    J Ethnopharmacol, 2011 Feb 16;133(3):1021-6.
    PMID: 21094237 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2010.11.037
    Many local plants are used in Malaysian traditional medicine to treat respiratory diseases including symptoms of tuberculosis. The aim of the study was to screen 78 plant extracts from 70 Malaysian plant species used in traditional medicine to treat respiratory diseases including symptoms of tuberculosis for activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using a colorimetric microplate-based assay.
  16. Teh BA, Choi SB, Musa N, Ling FL, Cun ST, Salleh AB, et al.
    BMC Struct Biol, 2014;14:7.
    PMID: 24499172 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6807-14-7
    Klebsiella pneumoniae plays a major role in causing nosocomial infection in immunocompromised patients. Medical inflictions by the pathogen can range from respiratory and urinary tract infections, septicemia and primarily, pneumonia. As more K. pneumoniae strains are becoming highly resistant to various antibiotics, treatment of this bacterium has been rendered more difficult. This situation, as a consequence, poses a threat to public health. Hence, identification of possible novel drug targets against this opportunistic pathogen need to be undertaken. In the complete genome sequence of K. pneumoniae MGH 78578, approximately one-fourth of the genome encodes for hypothetical proteins (HPs). Due to their low homology and relatedness to other known proteins, HPs may serve as potential, new drug targets.
  17. Kurniawansyah IS, Rusdiana T, Sopyan I, Desy Arya IF, Wahab HA, Nurzanah D
    Gels, 2023 Aug 10;9(8).
    PMID: 37623100 DOI: 10.3390/gels9080645
    In recent years, in situ gel delivery systems have received a great deal of attention among pharmacists. The in situ gelation mechanism has several advantages over ointments, the most notable being the ability to provide regular and continuous drug delivery with no impact on visual clarity. Bioavailability, penetration, duration, and maximum medication efficacy are all improved by this mechanism. Our review systematically synthesizes and discusses comparisons between three types of in situ gelling system according to their phase change performance based on the physicochemical aspect from publications indexed in the Pubmed, ResearchGate, Scopus, Elsevier, and Google Scholar databases. An optimal temperature-sensitive in situ gelling solution must have a phase change temperature greater than ambient temperature (25 °C) to be able to be readily delivered to the eye; hence, it was fabricated at 35 °C, which is the precorneal temperature. In a pH-sensitive gelling system, a gel develops immediately when the bio-stimuli come into contact with it. An in situ gelling system with ionic strength-triggered medication can also perhaps be used in optical drug-delivery mechanisms. In studies about the release behavior of drugs from in situ gels, different models have been used such as zero-order kinetics, first-order kinetics, the Higuchi model, and the Korsmeyer-Peppas, Peppas-Sahlin and Weibull models. In conclusion, the optimum triggering approach for forming gels in situ is determined by a certain therapeutic delivery application combined with the physico-chemical qualities sought.
  18. Choi SB, Choong YS, Saito A, Wahab HA, Najimudin N, Watanabe N, et al.
    Mol Inform, 2014 Dec;33(11-12):742-8.
    PMID: 27485420 DOI: 10.1002/minf.201400080
    Present HIV antiviral therapy only targets structural proteins of HIV, but evidence shows that the targeting of accessory proteins will expand our options in combating HIV. HIV-1 Vpr, a multifunctional accessory protein involved in viral infection, replication and pathogenesis, is a potential target. Previously, we have shown that phenyl coumarin compounds can inhibit the growth arrest activity of Vpr in host cells and predicted that the inhibitors' binding site is a hydrophobic pocket on Vpr. To investigate our prediction of the inhibitors' binding site, we docked the coumarin inhibitors into the predicted hydrophobic binding pocket on a built model of Vpr and observed a linear trend between their calculated binding energies and prior experimentally determined potencies. Subsequently, to analyze the inhibitor-protein binding interactions in detail, we built homology models of Vpr mutants and performed docking studies on these models too. The results revealed that structural changes on the binding pocket that were caused by the mutations affected inhibitor binding. Overall, this study showed that the binding energies of the docked molecules are good indicators of the activity of the inhibitors. Thus, the model can be used in virtual screening to identify other Vpr inhibitors and for designing more potent inhibitors.
  19. Kwong MMY, Lee JW, Samian MR, Wahab HA, Watanabe N, Ong EBB
    Cells, 2021 10 11;10(10).
    PMID: 34685698 DOI: 10.3390/cells10102718
    Certain plant extracts (PEs) contain bioactive compounds that have antioxidant and lifespan-extending activities on organisms. These PEs play different roles in cellular processes, such as enhancing stress resistance and modulating longevity-defined signaling pathways that contribute to longevity. Here, we report the discovery of PEs that extended chronological life span (CLS) in budding yeast from a screen of 222 PEs. We identified two PEs, the leaf extracts of Manihot esculenta and Wodyetia bifurcata that extended CLS in a dose-dependent manner. The CLS-extending PEs also conferred oxidative stress tolerance, suggesting that these PEs might extend yeast CLS through the upregulation of stress response pathways.
  20. Rawa MSA, Nogawa T, Okano A, Futamura Y, Nakamura T, Wahab HA, et al.
    Biosci Biotechnol Biochem, 2021 Jan 07;85(1):69-76.
    PMID: 33577647 DOI: 10.1093/bbb/zbaa051
    A new peptaibol, RK-026A (1) was isolated from a fungus, Trichoderma sp. RK10-F026, along with atroviridin B (2), alamethicin II (3), and polysporin B (4) as a cytotoxic compound, which was selected by principal component analysis of the MS data from 5 different culture conditions. The structure of 1 was determined as a new atroviridin B derivative containing Glu at the 18th residue instead of Gln by NMR and HR-MS analyses including the investigation of detailed MS/MS fragmentations. 1 showed cytotoxicity toward K562 leukemia cells at an IC50 value of 4.1 µm.
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