Sulfur Compounds as Inhibitors of Enzymatic Activity of a Snake Venom Phospholipase A(2): Benzyl 4-nitrobenzenecarbodithioate as a Case of Study

Snakebite is a neglected disease with a high impact in tropical and subtropical countries. Therapy based on antivenom has limited efficacy in local tissue damage caused by venoms. Phospholipases A(2) (PLA(2)) are enzymes that abundantly occur in snake venoms and induce several systemic and local effects. Furthermore, sulfur compounds such as thioesters have an inhibitory capacity against a snake venom PLA(2). Hence, the objective of this work was to obtain a carbodithioate from a thioester with known activity against PLA(2) and test its ability to inhibit the same enzyme. Benzyl 4-nitrobenzenecarbodithioate (I) was synthesized, purified, and characterized using as precursor 4-nitrothiobenzoic acid S-benzyl ester (II). Compound I showed inhibition of the enzymatic activity a PLA(2) isolated from the venom of the Colombian rattlesnake Crotalus durissus cumanensis with an IC(50) of 55.58 μM. This result is comparable with the reported inhibition obtained for II. Computational calculations were performed to support the study, and molecular docking results suggested that compounds I and II interact with the active site residues of the enzyme, impeding the normal catalysis cycle and attachment of the substrate to the active site of the PLA(2).