Dr Thirumal Kumar D

Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research | MAHER · Faculty of Allied Health Sciences

Abstract Background Viral mediated diseases are continuously posing potent threat to human health. Nutraceuticals are being employed as novel therapeutics during viral outbreaks. MAM granules consist of Curcuma longa, Withania somnifera, and Piper nigrum, is one such patented Siddha nutraceutical supplement that has been proposed to be a therapeuti...

Aims: Pharmacogenomics has been identified to play a crucial role in determining drug response. The present study aimed to identify significant genetic predictor variables influencing the therapeutic effect of paracetamol for new indications in preterm neonates. Background: Paracetamol has recently been preferred as a first-line drug for managing...

Computer-aided drug discovery (CADD) is a growing scientific field that encompasses several areas. CADD provides tools and software that aid in various stages of drug development, reducing the cost of inventive work time for the treatment. CADD is recognized as a time and cost-efficient process and they can identify drugs specific to the protein si...

Aims To identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of paracetamol-metabolizing enzymes that can predict acute liver injury. Background Paracetamol is a commonly administered analgesic/antipyretic in critically ill and chronic renal failure patients and several SNPs influence the therapeutic and toxic effects. Objective To evaluate the role o...

Mucopolysaccharidoses VI (Maroteaux Lamy syndrome) is a metabolic disorder due to the loss of enzyme activity of N-acetyl galactosamine-4-sulphatase arising from mutations in the ARSB gene. The mutated ARSB is the origin for the accumulation of GAGs within the lysosome leading to severe growth deformities, causing lysosomal storage disease. The mai...

Aim: The study aimed to identify the key pharmacogenetic variable influencing the therapeutic outcomes of warfarin using machine learning algorithms and bioinformatics tools. Background: Warfarin, a commonly used anticoagulant drug, is influenced by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, particularly CYP2C9. MLAs have been identified to have great poten...

Aspartylglucosaminuria (AGU) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by insufficient aspartylglucosaminidase (AGA) activity leading to chronic neurodegeneration. We utilized the PhosphoSitePlus tool to identify the AGA protein's phosphorylation sites. The phosphorylation was induced on the specific residue of the three-dimensional AGA protein, and t...

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, a predominant nosocomial pathogen in hospitals of intensive care units, is associated with bacteremia and ventilator-associated pneumonia with a high-risk mortality rate. To increase the effectiveness of the β-lactam (BL) antibiotics, the use of β-lactamase inhibitors (BLI) acts as a booster when given...

Pycnodysostosis is an atypical autosomal recessive condition of Lysosomal storage disorder that originated due to the deficit of the enzyme Cathepsin K which is vital for normal osteoclast action in bone resorption. Abnormal degradation of type 1 collagen and accumulation of toxic undigested collagen fibers in lysosomes of the osteoclast cells resu...

The regulatory proteins, cyclins, and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) control the cell cycle progression. CDK4 gene mutations are associated with certain cancers such as melanoma, breast cancer, and rhabdomyosarcoma. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of cell cycle control and cell proliferation is essential in developing cancer treatment regi...

Breast cancer biomarkers that detect marginally advanced stages are still challenging. The detection of specific abnormalities, targeted therapy selection, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment effectiveness over time are all made possible by circulating free DNA (cfDNA) analysis. The proposed study will detect specific genetic abnormalities from...

Cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) is an essential kinase in cell cycle progression, which is a viable target for inhibitors in various malignancies, including breast cancer. This study aimed to virtually screen efficient compounds as new leads in treating breast cancer using a drug repurposing approach. Apoptosis regulatory compounds were taken from...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a form of cancer characterized by many symptoms and readily metastasizes to different organs in the body. Circadian rhythm is one of the many processes that is observed to be dysregulated in CRC-affected patients. In this study, we aim to identify the dysregulated physiological processes in CRC-affected patients and corre...

Biosurfactants are surface-active, amphiphilic compounds formed extracellularly as secondary metabolites by microbes, especially the bacterial genera Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Rhodococcus, Lactobacillus, and Candida. Biosurfactants are composed of oligosaccharides, proteins, glycolipids, sophorolipids, mannosylerythritol lipids, and succinoyl trehalos...

The mechanisms responsible for the pathogenesis and progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) remain poorly understood, making the diagnosis of ALS challenging. We aimed to find the novel gene biomarkers via computationally analyzing microarray expression studies, in three different cell lineages, namely myotube cells, astrocyte cells and...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in microorganisms is an urgent global health threat. AMR of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. It is of great importance to underpin the resistance pathways involved in the mechanisms of AMR and identify the genes that are directly involved in AMR. The focus of the curre...

Morquio syndrome A (Mucopolysaccharidosis type IVA), is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder encoded by the gene GALNS. It is caused by the deficiency of N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfatase, necessary for breaking the glycosaminoglycans, keratan sulfate, and chondroitin 6-sulfate. This research uses a variety of computational techniques...

Niemann–Pick disease type C is a rare autosomal recessive of lysosomal storage disorder characterized by impaired intracellular lipid transport and has a tendency to accumulate the fatty acids and glycosphingolipids in a variety of neurovisceral tissues. This work includes computational tools to deciphere the mutational effect in NPC protein. The s...

ISBN 978-93-5768-104-9

The inhibition of phosphatidylinositol‐4, 5‐bisphosphate 3‐kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA) protein could be a promising treatment for breast cancer. In this regard, docking studies were accomplished on various functionalized organic molecules. Among them, several derivatives of quinazolin‐4(1H)‐one exhibited anti‐breast cancer activity and...

Methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) is a rare genetic disorder affecting multiple body systems. We aimed to investigate the pathogenic mutations in MMAA that are associated with isolated methylmalonic acidemia to identify the structural behavior of MMAA upon mutation. The algorithms such as PredictSNP, iStable, ConSurf, and Align GVGD were employed to ana...

The Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCL) are a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders, associated with 14 Ceroid Lipofuscinosis Neuronal genes (CLN1–14). The mutations in the Palmitoyl-Protein Thioesterase 1 (PPT1) protein serve as one of the major reasons for the causative of NCL. The PPT1 involves degrading and modifying cysteine residu...

Personalized medicine is a clinical concept that divides patients into various categories, often referred to as precision medicine, with healthcare choices, procedures, treatments, and/or products customized to the individual patient depending on their expected response or disease risk. Of the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering, an initiative fund...

Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein (BRCA1) is closely related to the BRCA2 (breast cancer type 2 susceptibility protein) and BARD1 (BRCA1-associated RING domain-1) proteins. The homodimers were formed through their RING fingers; however they form more compact heterodimers preferentially, influencing BRCA1 residues 1–109 and BARD1 residues...

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmissions are occurring rapidly; it is raising the alarm around the globe. Though vaccines are currently available, the evolution and mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 threaten available vaccines' significance. The drugs are still undergoing clinical trials, and certain medications are appr...

The SARS-CoV-2 was identified in December 2019 and spread quickly around the globe. Around 218 countries with 61,468,916 cases have been diagnosed as of November 27, 2020. The epidemic quarantine and symptomatic care plan control are the first step of the treatment in the absence of medicines and vaccines. The need for treatments/therapeutics is in...

The World Health Organization declared Ebola virus disease (EVD) as the major outbreak in the 20th century. EVD was first identified in 1976 in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. EVD was transmitted from infected fruit bats to humans via contact with infected animal body fluids. The Ebola virus (EBOV) has a genome size of~18,959...

Background Betalain pigments are water soluble natural pigments which contains nitrogen. Betacyanin have been reported to posses several biological properties Method In the present work, the pigment from the rind of Hylocereus undatus was analyzed for its stability upon elevated temperature, pH, time, light period and metal ions. Further the effec...

Peptides are promising antagonists against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To expedite drug discovery, a computational approach is widely employed for the initial screening of anti-SARS-CoV-2 candidates. This study aimed to investigate the potential of peptides from quinoa seed proteins as multi-target antagonists...

The rise of pollution due to the dye industries and textile wastes are evolving rapidly every day. The dyes are used in different trade names by the textile industries. The actual chemistry of dye is vague and difficult to understand even today though we are equipped technically. The toxic effects of the dyes and the reasons behind the acute toxici...

Azo dyes are highly toxic, which acts as a notable mutagen and carcinogen. This has a significant effect on human health, plants, animals, aquatic and terrestrial environments. Thus, the degradation of the azo dyes is exclusively studied using the conventional methods of which biodegradation is an eco-friendly approach. Hence, the present study is...

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified an association between polymorphisms in the FTO gene and obesity. The FTO: rs9939609, an intronic variant, is considered a risk allele for developing diabesity in homozygous and heterozygous forms. This study aimed to investigate the molecular structure of the available inhibitors specific to t...

COVID-19 is an infectious and pathogenic viral disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 that leads to septic shock, coagulation dysfunction, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The spreading rate of SARS-CoV-2 is higher than MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Spike-protein (S-protein) interacts with the human cells through the...

The recent upsurge of antibiotic-resistant infections has posed to be a serious health concern worldwide. In the present paper, the effect of shape & capping agent on the antibacterial activity (on Skin and Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) causing bacteria) of copper iodide (CuI) particles was probed. CuI synthesized without a capping agent was leaf-l...

Epimerase-deficiency galactosemia (EDG) is caused by mutations in the UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase enzyme, encoded by gene GALE. Catalyzing the last reaction in the Leloir pathway, UDP-galactose-4-epimerase catalyzes the interconversion of UDP-galactose and UDP-glucose. This study aimed to use in-depth computational strategies to prioritize the patho...

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are pivotal for cancer cell migration and metastasis which are generally over-expressed in such cell types. Many drugs targeting MMPs do so by binding to the conserved catalytic domains and thus exhibit poor selectivity due to domain-similarities with other proteases. We report herein the binding of a novel compound...

Lung Emphysema is an abnormal enlargement of the air sacs followed by the destruction of alveolar walls without any prominent fibrosis. This study primarily identifies the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), interactions between them, and their significant involvement in the activated signaling cascades. The dataset with ID GSE1122 (five normal...

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is instigated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of March 13, 2021, more than 118.9 million cases were infected with COVID-19 worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA beta-CoV. Most COVID-19 infected individuals recover within 1-3 weeks. Nevertheless, appr...

Background & objectives: Identifying the most important genes in a cancer gene network is a crucial step in understanding the disease's functional characteristics and finding an effective drug. Method ology: In this study, a popular influence maximization technique was applied on a large breast cancer gene network to identify the most influential...

Background and aim: The persistence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) continue to pose a significant challenge to the treatment and control of tuberculosis infections worldwide. XDR-MTB strains exhibit resistance against first-line anti-TB drugs, fluoroquinolones, and second-line injectable drugs. The...

Though it was once known that upregulated Cannabinoid Receptor (CB1) and downreg-ulated Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH1) are associated with tumour aggressiveness and me-tastasis, it is now clear that upregulated CB1 levels more than a certain point cause accumulation of ceramide and directs cells to apoptosis. Hence, CB1 analogues/FAAH1 blockers...

The number of infected cases of and deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 are rapidly increasing with the development of this disease into a pandemic, treatment is being sought worldwide. Few promising drugs, such as Remdesivir, Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir and Ritonavir, are being tested against SARS-CoV-2 as a drug repurposing approach. Remdesiv...

Azo dyes released by the textile industries cause severe damage to the environment and living organisms. The degradation of azo dyes is widely studied using enzymatic methods. Laccase is a copper-containing enzyme that degrades the azo dyes into less toxic compounds. In this work, the crude laccase enzyme produced by the alkaliphile Pseudomonas men...

Plastic pollution in the current scenario requires a sustainable and eco-friendly treatment process. Single-use plastics accumulate more than recyclable plastic wastes. Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) is one among the plastic family with inert characteristics. The traditional method, such as landfilling, develops pollution resistant micro-organisms...

Though it was once known that upregulated Cannabinoid Receptor (CB1) and downreg-ulated Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH1) are associated with tumour aggressiveness and me-tastasis, it is now clear that upregulated CB1 levels more than a certain point cause accumulation of ceramide and directs cells to apoptosis. Hence, CB1 analogues/FAAH1 blockers...

Large numbers of bioactive peptides with potential applications in protecting against human diseases have been identified from plant sources. In this review, we summarized recent progress in the research of plant-derived bioactive peptides, encompassing their production, biological effects, and mechanisms. This review focuses on antioxidant, antimi...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare yet crucial persistent lung disorder that actuates scarring of lung tissues, which makes breathing difficult. Smoking, environmental pollution, and certain viral infections could initiate lung scarring. However, the molecular mechanism involved in IPF remains elusive. To develop an efficient therapeutic...

Membrane proteins are the most common types of cancer that are active in the prognosis. Membrane proteins are a distinguishing characteristic of a cancer cell. In tumor cell therapy, the overexpressed membrane proteins are becoming ever more relevant. The 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT phosphatidylinositol pathway is downstream triggered by different extracel...

Filamins (FLN) are a family of actin-binding proteins involved in regulating the cytoskeleton and signaling phenomenon by developing a network with F-actin and FLN-binding partners. The FLN family comprises three conserved isoforms in mammals: FLNA, FLNB, and FLNC. FLNB is a multidomain monomer protein with domains containing an actin-binding N-ter...

Influenza virus causes influenza, an infectious disease. The symptoms can range from mild to severe. Severe influenza infections have historically led to 250,000 to 500,000 deaths per year. Influenza viruses can be broadly classified into four types as A, B, C, and D. They are structurally similar, and place high demands on drugs. The heterotrimeri...

1) Aims: Diabesity, defined as diabetes occurring in the context of obesity, is a serious health problem that is associated with an increased risk of premature heart attack, stroke, and death. To date, a key challenge has been to understand the molecular pathways that play significant roles in diabesity. In this study, we aimed to investigate the g...

K-Ras is a small GTPase and acts as a molecular switch by recruiting GEFs and GAPs, and alternates between the inert GDP-bound and the dynamic GTP-bound forms. The amino acid at position 12 of K-Ras is a hot spot for oncogenic mutations (G12A, G12C, G12D, G12R, G12S, and G12V), disturbing the active fold of the protein, leading to cancer developmen...

Propionic Acidemia (PA) is an inborn error of metabolism caused by variants in the PCCA or PCCB genes, leading to mitochondrial accumulation of propionyl-CoA and its by-products. Here, we report a 2 year-old Egyptian boy with PA who was born to consanguineous parents. Biochemical analysis was performed using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) on the...

Background and Aims: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is one of the major risk factor for the progression of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. This study focused on identifying the dysregulated molecular pathways and core genes that are differentially regulated in FH and to identify the possible genetic factors and potential underlying...

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Asian countries have been significantly prone to endemic diseases. This has been particularly true in India due to its increasing population, with the country having faced more than 10 outbreaks, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Zika virus (ZIKV) disease, and Nipah virus (NiV) disease in the...

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which originated in the city of Wuhan, China, has quickly spread to various countries, with many cases having been reported worldwide. As of May 8, 2020, in India, 56,342 positive cases were reported. India, with a population of more than 1.34 billion and the second largest population in the world, will...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder that is clinically complex and has increased production of autoantibodies. Via emerging technologies, researchers have identified genetic variants, expression profiling of genes, animal models, and epigenetic findings that have paved the way for a better understanding of the...

Recent findings demonstrate the origin of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene mcr-3 from aeromonads. The present study aimed to screen for plasmid-mediated colistin resistance among 30 clinical multidrug-resistant (MDR) Aeromonas spp. PCR was used to screen for the presence of mcr-1, mcr-2, mcr-3 and mcr-4, which revealed mcr-3 in a colis...

Background and Aims: Diabetes resulting from obesity is referred to as diabesity. This study aimed to establish a genetic link between the two complex polygenic diseases and to define the role of these genes in the critical metabolic pathways and their contribution to the clinical symptoms and phenotypes. Methods: The dataset for the current resear...

KRAS is a small GTPase, a member of the RAS gene family that functions as a cellular signaling mediator for specific receptors. KRAS is the most common mutationally activated oncoprotein in humans. Mutated KRAS genes are frequently found in human cancers, with the highest frequencies of missense mutations reported in lung, colon, and pancreatic car...

Krabbe disease (KD), also known as globoid cell leukodystrophy disease, is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage genetic disorder, which is caused by the deficiency of galactocerebrosidase (GALC) coding gene (GALC). This study aimed to use an extensive computational pipelines in understanding the missense mutations in GALC. We retrieved 176 muta...

Blau syndrome (BS), which affects the eyes, skin, and joints, is an autosomal dominant genetic inflammatory disorder. BS is caused by mutations in the NOD2 gene. However, there are no direct treatments, and treatment with conventional anti-inflammatory drugs such as adrenal glucocorticoids, anti-metabolites, and biological agents such as anti-TNF a...

Sjögren–Larsson syndrome (SLS) is an autoimmune disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. To date, 80 missense mutations have been identified in association with the Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 3 Family Member A2 (ALDH3A2) gene causing SLS. Disruption of the function of ALDH3A2 leads to excessive accumulation of fat in the cells, which inter...

The contact maps were analyzed to explore the specific atomistic interactions between residues throughout the entire macromolecular simulation.

The autosomal recessive phosphomannomutase 2-congenital disorder of glycosylation (PMM2-CDG) is characterized by defective functioning of the PMM2 enzyme, which is necessary for the conversion of mannose-6-phosphate into mannose-1-phosphate. Here, a computational pipeline was drawn to identify the most significant mutations, and further, we used a...

Type I galactosemia is a very rare autosomal recessive genetic metabolic disorder that occurs because of the mutations present in the galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase (GALT) gene, resulting in a deficiency of the GALT enzyme. The action of the GALT enzyme is to convert galactose-1-phosphate and uridine diphosphate glucose into glucose-1-pho...

Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IIIA, also known as Sanfilippo syndrome type A, is a severe, progressive disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). MPS IIIA is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner and is caused by a deficiency in the lysosomal enzyme sulfamidase, which is required for the degradation of heparan sulfate. The sulfamidas...