SULFORAPHANE AND AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: A BIOINFORMATICS APPROACH TO THERAPEUTIC DISCOVERY

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder is one of the serious neurobehavioral disorders. Report of centre for disease control reveals the rise in the rate of ASD diagnosis every year. Present therapeutic options are quite restricted and often prefer symptom management than on resolving the underlying pathophysiological mechanism. The etiology of autism is diverse with several genetic components, environmental factor and epigenetic pathways being identified. Progress in molecular genetics has enabled the identification of distinct medical condition as well as genes and environmental factor associated with pathogenesis of ASD. In order to provide an alternative therapy, intervention strategies using phytochemicals have been proposed. Among phytochemicals isothiocynate sulforaphane is known for its anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects in several invitro and invivo studies. Sulforaphane (SFN) is type of organosulfur compound derived from glucoraphanin, a compound found in broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. SFN has been reported to have some effect in the treatment of ASD. Therefore in this work we employed bioinformatics approach which includes network pharmacology and molecular docking to identify the possible target and mechanism of SFN in treating ASD. Network pharmacology make it possible to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the interactions take place between SFN and multiple biological targets associated with autism. This study brings insights into the signalling pathways, biological functions and complex molecular network. Identification of key nodes and pathways will be identified by analyzing the network of protein-protein interaction. Furthermore molecular docking will be done to predict the binding and interaction of SFN with identified target proteins. Collectively this study suggests that SFN has therapeutic benefits for ASD by targeting many factors and pathways, which offers a preliminary theoretical basis for conducting clinical studies.