EXPLORING THE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY POTENTIAL OF ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS: MOLECULAR DOCKING INSIGHT AGAINST TNF-Α AND IL-6

Background: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that affects millions of people in the globe and is characterized by recurrent seizures and associated with neuroinflammation. Recent findings indicate that inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) also have important role in epileptogenesis and seizures propagation. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the binding affinity of commonly prescribed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) against key inflammatory targets (TNF-α and IL-6) through molecular docking studies. Methods: Molecular docking was performed using Schrodinger suite 2021-2 for six antiepileptic drugs (Valproic acid, carbamazepine, phenytoin, levetiracetam, lamotrigine, and topiramate). Ibuprofen takes as standard anti-inflammatory drug. Three-dimensional structures of target proteins were retrieved from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Results: The Molecular docking studies disclosed variable binding affinities of AEDs with inflammatory targets (IL-6 and TNF-α). Lamotrigine demonstrated the strongest binding affinity to IL-6 (-4.909 kcal/mol), while Levetiracetam showed binding affinity with TNF-α (-3.561 kcal/mol) and Ibuprofen showed binding affinity with IL-6 (-3.867) and binding affinity with TNF- α was (-2.106). Conclusion: The proposed in silico study indicates possible anti-inflammatory actions of some antiepileptic drugs that might also play a role in their medicinal effectiveness in their non-traditional sodium blockage and GABAergic activities. More in-vitro and in-vivo studies are need to validate these computational results.