Mechanisms of selected cassipourea metabolites for melasma treatment: network pharmacology and molecular dynamics study

Abstract

Background: Melasma is a common dyschromia, mainly found in women with darker skin types. Although asymptomatic, melasma significantly impacts patients’ quality of life. Due to this complex pathogenesis, melasma is difficult to treat. Plant and plant-derived products have been explored as alternatives for the treatment of melasma.

Methods: This study utilized network pharmacology coupled with molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the molecular mechanisms of three selected Cassipourea metabolites in the treatment of melasma.

Results: Of the 202 genes obtained from the 14 profiled metabolites, only PTGS2, TYR, ESR2, and ESR1 were common among metabolites and targets implicated in melasma. From this, The gene ontology highlighted the intracellular steroid hormone receptor, signalling pathway, macromolecular complex, and estrogen receptor activity as the top enriched functional annotations, while the KEGG pathway analysis identified five signalling pathways, from which the prolactin signalling pathway, endocrine resistance, and estrogen signalling pathway were implicated in the pathogenesis of melasma. These pathways were further connected by their linkage to ESR2 and ESR1., Of all Cassipourea metabolites and standards, with afzelechin having the highest docking score for both gens. Further binding interaction analysis showed that ESR2-bound tamoxifen had the highest binding free energy of -47.68 kcal/mol, however, among the interacting Cassipourea metabolites, sitosterol-glycoside exhibited the highest negative binding affinity for both ESR2 (-40.50 kcal/mol) and ESR1 (-78.97 kcal/mol) over 150 ns simulation, suggesting its potential as a dual modulator. Altogether, the metabolites presented remarkable binding stability and thermodynamic compactness with the apo-genes.

Conclusion: The finding that the selected Cassipourea metabolites are associated with the genes and enzymes implicated in melasma pathogenesis, together with their significant binding effects on the enriched genes, suggests their regulatory potential on the profiled targets and, consequently, in the treatment of melasma.