An in silico investigation: Can melatonin serve as an adjuvant in NR1D1-linked chronotherapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

ABSTRACT

Chronobiology, which studies biological rhythms and their impacts on health, presents a potential avenue for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Clock gene-related therapies, focusing on genes responsible for regulating biological rhythms, may hold promise in the treatment. Among these clock genes, nuclear receptor subfamily 1 Group D member 1 (NR1D1) plays a vital role in neurodegenerative diseases. In this particular study, it was aimed to investigate the potential of FDA-approved drugs commonly used in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment and melatonin, a hormone known for its role in regulating sleep-wake cycles, as ligands for clock gene-related therapy. The ligands were subjected to molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation methods against the NR1D1 clock gene. These results suggested that combining melatonin with FDA-approved medications commonly used in the treatment might yield positive outcomes. This study provides preliminary data and lays the groundwork for future investigations involving in vitro (laboratory-based) and in vivo (animal or human-based) research on chronotherapy. In summary, this research highlights the potential of clock gene-related therapy utilizing melatonin in conjunction with FDA-approved drugs for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment, offering insights into novel treatment strategies. The findings underscore the need for further studies to explore the effectiveness of this hypothetical approach in experimental and clinical settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• NR1D1
• melatonin
• molecular docking
• molecular dynamics
• chronotherapy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data are available in the tables and figures of this manuscript http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2023.226547.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.