Understanding the Basis of Drug Resistance of the Mutants of αβ-Tubulin Dimer via Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The vital role of tubulin dimer in cell division makes it an attractive drug target. Drugs that target tubulin showed significant clinical success in treating various cancers. However, the efficacy of these drugs is attenuated by the emergence of tubulin mutants that are unsusceptible to several classes of tubulin binding drugs. The molecular basis of drug resistance of the tubulin mutants is yet to be unraveled. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations, protein-ligand docking, and MMPB(GB)SA analyses to examine the binding of anticancer drugs, taxol and epothilone to the reported point mutants of tubulin - T274I, R282Q, and Q292E. Results suggest that the mutations significantly alter the tubulin structure and dynamics, thereby weaken the interactions and binding of the drugs, primarily by modifying the M loop conformation and enlarging the pocket volume. Interestingly, these mutations also affect the tubulin distal sites that are associated with microtubule building processes.