Protein-Protein docking interaction of Nephrin protein with the expression of MMP-9: an anti-inflammatory agent

Nephrin is widely known to protect the beta cells of islets of Langerhans, podocytes of the kidney and brain. Previous studies reveal the mechanisms that involve downregulation of ROS-induced regulations of an ant-iinflammatory marker MMP-9 expression. The question is whether communications are based on direct or indirect interactions of proteins. So, for knowing the interaction or affinity of MMP-9 with Nephrin, in silico Protein-Protein docking approach has been used using ClusPro 2.0 software. PyMol software was used to visualize the best- docked complexes. M00 was found to be the best model generated based on cluster size and weightage scores for Nephrin with MMP-9. The best binding score is -991.2 for Nephrin with MMP-9. Met 247, Pro 246, Arg 249, Leu 1255, His 1254, Leu 243, Arg 1252, Leu 187 and Asp 282 are some of the prominent residues involved in the interactions between Nephrin and MMP-9. Thus, through in silico Protein-Protein docking, we have found a significant interaction of nephrin with MMP-9. Through this study, we may propose that nephrin may protect beta cell damage and kidney podocytes, brain accompanied by the downregulation of ROS induced MMP 9 activation.