IN SILICO STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF GRISEOFULVIN ON TUBULIN PROTEIN OF CRYPTOCOCCUS NEOFORMANS AND ITS IN VITRO VALIDATION

Griseofulvin is a well known drug against dermatophytes. It is particularly prescribed for an infection called scrap ringworm or tinea capitis. In general, griseofulvin inhibits the tubulin protein that is responsible for the cell division. Not much is known about the effect of griseofulvin on Cryptococcus neoformans. Therefore, the authors made an effort to check the activity of griseofulvin against it. The webservers (T-Coffee, Bluues simulation and CASTp) and software (Autodock 4.0) have been used in order to determine the activity of griseofulvin against the beta subunit of tubulin protein of C. neoformans. The results obtained from the in silico studies show a high affinity of griseofulvin towards the beta chain of tubulin protein. The negative value of binding energy (-9.02 kcal/mol) also shows that the complex is thermodynamically favourable and stable. These in silico results were further validated by MIC assay showing 74.1% inhibition of C. neoformans (isolate no. 5) against griseofulvin. The present study reports that apart from dermatophytes, the drug has significant effect on C. neoformans and it may be used in the combinatorial therapy against the same.