Drug repurposing for diabetes: In silico determination of approved drugs against human glucokinase receptor
1 Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.
2 Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbiariam, Anambra State, Nigeria.
2 Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbiariam, Anambra State, Nigeria.
Research Article
Open Access Research Journal of Biology and Pharmacy, 2026, 17(02), 022–029.
Article DOI: 10.53022/oarjbp.2026.17.2.0043
Publication history:
Received on 14 June 2026; revised on 21 July 2026; accepted on 23 July 2026
Abstract:
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by abnormal glucose levels. It is a currently leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the world even in developing countries. This study investigates the potential of possible activators of human glucokinase, an important hepatic enzyme in glucose regulation from some selected approved clinical drugs by in silico docking simulations. Human glucokinase protein target was selected with its reference compound, piragliatin from the KEGG pathway and the presence of 3D structure in Protein Data Bank. 1545 clinically approved drugs were selected based on their physiochemical properties in relation to piragliatin, the reference drug, with respect to their predicted biological activities. The selected approved drugs were obtained from ZINC database. The protein drug target and the selected approved drugs including the reference drug were prepared for docking simulations using Autodock vina vs- 1.5.6 in a Linux platform. The visualization of the docked results was done using PyMol-vr1-ed win32. Darifenacin hydrobromide and citalopram hydrobromide were found to possess binding affinities of -10.17 and -10 kcal/mol respectively lower than piragliatin with a value of -9.97 kcal/mol. These drugs with lower binding affinities than the binding affinity of the reference drug were predicted to have higher activity against diabetes. Further investigations into the in vitro and in vivo activities of these drugs are essential in order to validate their use in the management of diabetes.
Keywords:
Diabetes Mellitus; Human Glucokinase; Molecular Docking Simulations; Piragliatin; Darifenacin Hydrobromide; Citalopram Hydrobromide
Full text article in PDF:
Copyright information:
Copyright © 2026 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0