A Flippase-Like Domain-Containing Protein From Deltaproteobacteria Bacterium (Marine Sediment Metagenome) Has Anti-prostate Cancer Effects

Background: Prostate cancer is the second prevalent cancer and the fifth cause of deaths related to the men malignancies. The cancerous cell can travel from prostate to other parts of the body and cause metastasis in other organs such as bones and lymph nodes. For the treatment of the prostate cancer, chemotherapy and hormone therapy are being used. Hormone therapy in this disease is primarily based on the androgen suppression to prevent the growth and division of the cancerous cells. Different classes of drugs are used for hormone therapy. One group of these drugs is reducers of androgen production in adrenal glands. These drugs prevent the androgen production in adrenal glands and cancerous cells. Leuprorelin which is also known as leuprolide is a synthetic peptide that is used for treatment of prostate cancer. Objectives: The aim of this study is to explore novel anti-prostate cancer compounds using proteomics of microorganisms. Methods: Leuprorelin synthetic peptide was chosen as the template for amino acid sequence homology search using blast, and the resulting protein of the best candidate sequences were employed as a query to perform docking test against the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GRHR) using HDOCK web server. Results: By employing an in silico approach, natural products with structure and function similar to leuprorelin were explored, and their features were characterized. A flippase-like domain-containing protein from Deltaproteobacteria bacterium showed strong binding to gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor GRHR with docking score of -۴۲۵. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) tests showed no potential toxicity of this natural product to the body. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that the proteomics of living organisms contains natural compounds that can be considered a valuable source of medically important resources.