Identification of novel TMEM16A blockers through integrated virtual screening, molecular dynamics, and experimental studies

The calcium-activated chloride channel TMEM16A is a promising drug target for treating hypertension, secretory diarrheas, and various cancers, including head and neck cancer. Despite its potential, no FDA-approved drugs have provided the structural basis for directly inhibiting TMEM16A. This study aims to identify a novel pore-blocker of TMEM16A by integrating virtual screening, molecular dynamics simulations, and in vitro studies. Using the calcium-bound structure of TMEM16A with and without the pore-blocker 1PBC, we performed virtual screening on nearly 90,000 compounds from the ChemDiv database. Approximately 67% of these compounds demonstrated better binding affinity than 1PBC. Among the top 20 compounds selected for short-circuit current assays using human lung adenocarcinoma cells (Calu-3), compounds N066-0059, N066-0060, and N066-0067 inhibited TMEM16A activity with IC₅₀ values of 0.24 µM, 0.41 µM, and 0.48 µM, respectively, which was lower than that of a positive control Ani9 (9 µM). Due to its highest potency in electrophysiological assays, N066-0059 was subjected to mechanistic studies. Molecular dynamics simulations elucidated its binding stability and strength, showing superior performance to 1PBC over 500 ns with 3 replicates. This study advances TMEM16A-targeted drug development, offering new insights for anticancer therapies.