PROJECTSPROJECTS

Anti-Alzheimer Potential of Citrus hystrix DC. Peel, Leaf, and Essential Oil Bioactive Compounds by Network Pharmacology Study

Adhisa Fathirisari Putri, Didik Huswo Utomo, Ph.D., Wahyu Aristyaning Putri, Ph.D

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most known neurodegenerative disease which prevalence is predicted to increase significantly in the upcoming years. Currently, there is an urgent need to discover novel drugs and treatments for AD. On the other hand, drug discovery by natural products have been preferred lately due to its high potential and low toxicity. Citrus hystrix DC. (kaffir lime; CH) is one of herbal plants abundant in Southeast Asia with many biological activities. In this study, we explored the potential of CH peel, leaf, and essential oil bioactive compounds as an anti-Alzheimer agent by network pharmacology approach. First, we identified the compounds with KNApSAcK database and related literatures. Next, we identified the targets of each corresponding compound with SEA Search Server and Swiss Target Prediction, and proteins associated with AD using OMIM, GenCLiP3, and DisGeNET. Furthermore, we constructed protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and compound-target interaction network to identify the most crucial proteins and compounds in the network with Cytoscape v.3.9.1. We continued with pathway enrichment analysis using STRING v.1.7.1 and molecular docking with PyRx to further confirm the results. Our results showed that almost all bioactive compounds of CH targeted Alzheimer-associated genes, with Oxypeucedanin and Citrusoside A as the compounds with the highest anti-Alzheimer potential which targeted essential genes such as EGFR, MAPK14, and PPARA. These targets were associated with inflammatory and oxidative stress pathway, which showed the potential mechanism of CH in attenuating AD clinical manifestation. However, further investigation is needed to validate the results of this research.

In Silico Design of a Multi-epitope Protein Vaccine Against Chlamydia pneumoniae to Prevent Lung-cancer Development

Indira Prakoso, Yustinus Maladan, M.Si, Mochamad Nurcholis, Ph.D

Chlamydia pneumoniae is one of the microorganisms that triggers acute respiratory infections and is correlated with several chronic diseases, including lung cancer. Concerns about the emergence of antibiotic resistance have made vaccines become an alternative to fight pathogens. However, until now, no licensed vaccine for C. pneumoniae has been found. Therefore, this study aims to design a vaccine of C. pneumoniae using in silico approach from outer membrane proteins of C. pneumoniae. After being selected through SignalP, BLASTp, Pred TMBB2, and BOCTOPUS, then 7 potential oute.