Ibuprofen binds DNA: evidenced through fluorescence spectroscopic and molecular docking

Abstract

Ibuprofen belongs to a class of drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with various pharmacological effects. A set of spectroscopic (in-vitro) and molecular docking (in-silico) studies were accounted to illustrate the binding mode of ibuprofen with calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA), in order to predict its possibility to be a ‘DNA binder’ which is one of the features expected in anticancer and antitumor drug designing. Both the UV-Visible and Fluorescence spectroscopic results denote that, there is a drug-DNA complex formation with binding constants of 1.58 x 105 M-1 and 2 x 10-3 μl ng-1 respectively. These values suggest that ibuprofen having intercalative mode of interaction with ct-DNA. As a confirmation of these results, it was further validated through relative specific viscosity measurements of ct-DNA dug complex. It was revealed an increment while mixing DNA with the drug in ascending order. Molecular docking studies further complemented the experimental results.