Can Inhibitors of Snake Venom Phospholipases A(2) Lead to New Insights into Anti-Inflammatory Therapy in Humans? A Theoretical Study

Human phospholipase A(2) (hPLA(2)) of the IIA group (HGIIA) catalyzes the hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids, producing arachidonic acid and originating potent inflammatory mediators. Therefore, molecules that can inhibit this enzyme are a source of potential anti-inflammatory drugs, with different action mechanisms of known anti-inflammatory agents. For the study and development of new anti-inflammatory drugs with this action mechanism, snake venom PLA(2) (svPLA(2)) can be employed, since the svPLA(2) has high similarity with the human PLA(2) HGIIA. Despite the high similarity between these secretory PLA(2)s(,) it is still not clear if these toxins can really be employed as an experimental model to predict the interactions that occur with the human PLA(2) HGIIA and its inhibitors. Thus, the present study aims to compare and evaluate, by means of theoretical calculations, docking and molecular dynamics simulations, as well as experimental studies, the interactions of human PLA(2) HGIIA and two svPLA(2)s(,) Bothrops toxin II and Crotoxin B (BthTX-II and CB, respectively). Our theoretical findings corroborate experimental data and point out that the human PLA(2) HGIIA and svPLA(2) BthTX-II lead to similar interactions with the studied compounds. From our results, the svPLA(2) BthTX-II can be used as an experimental model for the development of anti-inflammatory drugs for therapy in humans.