Molecular docking studies of human MCT8 protein with soy isoflavones in Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome (AHDS)

Monocarboxylate transporter-8 (MCT8) is a specific thyroid hormone transporter, essential for the uptake of thyroid hormone into target tissues. Mutations in the MCT8 gene have been identified as the cause of Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome (AHDS). It has been reported that soy isoflavones influence thyroid hormone system and can interact with thyroid hormone transporter proteins. Therefore, the present study aimed to find out whether soy isoflavones (genistein, daidzein and glycitein) can be used as a natural inhibitor to target MCT8 in AHDS. Docking studies were performed for soy isoflavones in order to evaluate their binding affinity to MCT8 protein using AutoDock4 (version 4.2.6) and AutoDock Vina. After docking, the ligands were ranked according to their binding energy and the best lead compound was selected based on the least binding energy. The docking results indicated that daidzein possesses the lowest binding energy against MCT8. Moreover, it was found that the residues PRO-338, HIS-341, and GLU-348 were involved in hydrogen bond interactions with genistein and daidzein. This study suggests that daidzein is a promising natural inhibitor to target MCT8 in AHDS.