QSAR and deep learning model for virtual screening of potential inhibitors against Inosine 5’ Monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) of Cryptosporidium parvum

Cryptosporidium parvum (Cp) causes a gastro-intestinal disease called Cryptosporidiosis. C. parvum Inosine 5’ monophosphate dehydrogenase (CpIMPDH) is responsible for the production of guanine nucleotides. In the present study, 37 known urea-based congeneric compounds were used to build a 2D and 3D QSAR model against CpIMPDH. The built models were validated based on OECD principles. A deep learning model was adopted from a framework called Deep Purpose. The model was trained with 288 known active compounds and validated using a test set. From the training set of the 3D QSAR, a pharmacophore model was built and the best pharmacophore hypotheses were scored and sorted using a phase-hypo score. A phytochemical database was screened using both the pharmacophore model and a deep learning model. The screened compounds were considered for glide XP docking, followed by quantum polarized ligand docking. Finally, the best compound among them was considered for molecular dynamics simulation study.