Orale, direkte Thrombin- und Faktor-Xa-Hemmer: Kommt die Ablösung für Warfarin, Blutegel und Schweinedärme?

Protein-Templated Formation of an Inhibitor of the Blood Coagulation Factor Xa through a Background-Free Amidation Reaction

Protein‐templated reactions enable the target‐guided formation of protein ligands from reactive fragments, ideally with no background reaction. Herein, we investigate the templated formation of amides. A nucleophilic fragment that binds to the coagulation factor Xa was incubated with the protein and thirteen differentially activated dipeptides. The protein induced a non‐catalytic templated reaction for the phenyl and trifluoroethyl esters; the latter was shown to be a completely background‐free reaction. Starting from two fragments with millimolar affinity, a 29 nm superadditive inhibitor of factor Xa was obtained. The fragment ligation reaction was detected with high sensitivity by an enzyme activity assay and by mass spectrometry. The reaction progress and autoinhibition of the templated reaction by the formed ligation product were determined, and the structure of the protein–inhibitor complex was elucidated.

A Bisbenzamidine Phosphonate as a Janus-faced Inhibitor for Trypsin-like Serine Proteases

A hybrid approach was applied for the design of an inhibitor of trypsin-like serine proteases. Compound 16 [(R,R)- and (R,S)-diphenyl (4-(1-(4-amidinobenzylamino)-1-oxo-3-phenylpropan-2-ylcarbamoyl)phenylamino)(4-amidinophenyl)methylphosphonate hydrochloride], prepared in a convergent synthetic procedure, possesses a phosphonate warhead prone to react with the active site serine residue in a covalent, irreversible manner. Each of the two benzamidine moieties of 16 can potentially be accommodated in the S1 pocket of the target enzyme, but only the benzamidine close to the phosphonate group would then promote an irreversible interaction. The Janus-faced inhibitor 16 was evaluated against several serine proteases and caused a pronounced inactivation of human thrombin with a second-order rate constant (kinac /Ki) of 59 500 M(-1)  s(-1). With human matriptase, 16 showed preference for a reversible mode of inhibition (IC50 =2.6 μM) as indicated by linear progress curves and enzyme reactivation.

Molecular recognition in chemical and biological systems

Structure-based ligand design in medicinal chemistry and crop protection relies on the identification and quantification of weak noncovalent interactions and understanding the role of water. Small-molecule and protein structural database searches are important tools to retrieve existing knowledge. Thermodynamic profiling, combined with X-ray structural and computational studies, is the key to elucidate the energetics of the replacement of water by ligands. Biological receptor sites vary greatly in shape, conformational dynamics, and polarity, and require different ligand-design strategies, as shown for various case studies. Interactions between dipoles have become a central theme of molecular recognition. Orthogonal interactions, halogen bonding, and amide⋅⋅⋅π stacking provide new tools for innovative lead optimization. The combination of synthetic models and biological complexation studies is required to gather reliable information on weak noncovalent interactions and the role of water.

Binding Free Energy Calculations for Lead Optimization: Assessment of Their Accuracy in an Industrial Drug Design Context

Correctly ranking compounds according to their computed relative binding affinities will be of great value for decision making in the lead optimization phase of industrial drug discovery. However, the performance of existing computationally demanding binding free energy calculation methods in this context is largely unknown. We analyzed the performance of the molecular mechanics continuum solvent, the linear interaction energy (LIE), and the thermodynamic integration (TI) approach for three sets of compounds from industrial lead optimization projects. The data sets pose challenges typical for this early stage of drug discovery. None of the methods was sufficiently predictive when applied out of the box without considering these challenges. Detailed investigations of failures revealed critical points that are essential for good binding free energy predictions. When data set-specific features were considered accordingly, predictions valuable for lead optimization could be obtained for all approaches but LIE. Our findings lead to clear recommendations for when to use which of the above approaches. Our findings also stress the important role of expert knowledge in this process, not least for estimating the accuracy of prediction results by TI, using indicators such as the size and chemical structure of exchanged groups and the statistical error in the predictions. Such knowledge will be invaluable when it comes to the question which of the TI results can be trusted for decision making.

Molecular recognition at the active site of factor Xa: cation-π interactions, stacking on planar peptide surfaces, and replacement of structural water

Factor Xa, a serine protease from the blood coagulation cascade, is an ideal enzyme for molecular recognition studies, as its active site is highly shape-persistent and features distinct, concave sub-pockets. We developed a family of non-peptidic, small-molecule inhibitors with a central tricyclic core orienting a neutral heterocyclic substituent into the S1 pocket and a quaternary ammonium ion into the aromatic box in the S4 pocket. The substituents were systematically varied to investigate cation-π interactions in the S4 pocket, optimal heterocyclic stacking on the flat peptide walls lining the S1 pocket, and potential water replacements in both the S1 and the S4 pockets. Structure-activity relationships were established to reveal and quantify contributions to the binding free enthalpy, resulting from single-atom replacements or positional changes in the ligands. A series of high-affinity ligands with inhibitory constants down to K(i)=2 nM were obtained and their proposed binding geometries confirmed by X-ray co-crystal structures of protein-ligand complexes.