Identification of novel thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives as human A1 and A2A adenosine receptor antagonists/inverse agonists

Adenosine receptor antagonists: Recent advances and therapeutic perspective

Adenosine is an endogenous purine-based nucleoside expressed nearly in all body tissues. It regulates various body functions by activating four G-protein coupled receptors, A₁, A_2A, A_2B, and A₃. These receptors are widely acknowledged as drug targets for treating different neurological, metabolic, and inflammatory diseases. Although numerous adenosine receptor inhibitors have been developed worldwide, achieving target selectivity is still a big hurdle in drug development. However, the identification of specific radioligands-based affinity assay, fluorescent ligands, and MS-based ligand assay have contributed to the development of selective and potent adenosine ligands. In recent years various small heterocyclic-based molecules have shown some promising results. Istradefylline has been approved for treating Parkinson's in Japan, while preladenant, tozadenant, CVT-6883, MRS-1523, and many more are under different phases of clinical development. The present review is focused on the quest to develop potent and selective adenosine inhibitors from 2013 to early 2021 by various research groups. The review also highlights their biological activity, selectivity, structure-activity relationship, molecular docking, and mechanistic studies. A special emphsesis on drug designing strategies has been also given the manuscript. The comprehensive compilation of research work carried out in the field will provide inevitable scope for designing and developing novel adenosine inhibitors with improved selectivity and efficacy.

Design and Synthesis of Novel Thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine Derivatives with High Affinity for Both the Adenosine A1 and A2A Receptors, and Efficacy in Animal Models of Depression

New compounds with a 7-amino-2-arylmethyl-thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine structure were synthesized and evaluated in vitro for their affinity and/or potency at the human (h) A₁, hA_2A, hA_2B, and hA₃ adenosine receptors (ARs). Several compounds (5, 8–10, 13, 18, 19) were characterized by nanomolar and subnanomolar binding affinities for the hA₁ and the hA_2A AR, respectively. Results of molecular docking studies supported the in vitro results. The 2-(2-fluorobenzyl)-5-(furan-2yl)-thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidin-7-amine derivative 18 (hA₁ K_i = 1.9 nM; hA_2A K_i = 0.06 nM) was evaluated for its antidepressant-like activity in in vivo studies, the forced swimming test (FST), the tail suspension test (TST), and the sucrose preference test (SPT) in mice, showing an effect comparable to that of the reference amitriptyline.

Exploration of chalcones and related heterocycle compounds as ligands of adenosine receptors: therapeutics development

Adenosine receptors (ARs) are ubiquitously distributed throughout the mammalian body where they are involved in an extensive list of physiological and pathological processes that scientists have only begun to decipher. Resultantly, AR agonists and antagonists have been the focus of multiple drug design and development programmes within the past few decades. Considered to be a privileged scaffold in medicinal chemistry, the chalcone framework has attracted a substantial amount of interest in this regard. Due to the potential liabilities associated with its structure, however, it has become necessary to explore other potentially promising compounds, such as heterocycles, which have successfully been obtained from chalcone precursors in the past. This review aims to summarise the emerging therapeutic importance of adenosine receptors and their ligands, especially in the central nervous system (CNS), while highlighting chalcone and heterocyclic derivatives as promising AR ligand lead compounds.

Piperazine- and Piperidine-Containing Thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine Derivatives as New Potent and Selective Adenosine A2A Receptor Inverse Agonists

The therapeutic use of A_2A adenosine receptor (AR) antagonists for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases, is a very promising approach. Moreover, the potential therapeutic role of A_2A AR antagonists to avoid both immunoescaping of tumor cells and tumor development is well documented. Herein, we report on the synthesis and biological evaluation of a new set of piperazine- and piperidine- containing 7-amino-2-(furan-2-yl)thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives designed as human A_2A AR antagonists/inverse agonists. Binding and potency data indicated that a good number of potent and selective hA_2A AR inverse agonists were found. Amongst them, the 2-(furan-2-yl)-N⁵-(2-(4-phenylpiperazin-1-yl)ethyl)thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine-5,7-diamine 11 exhibited the highest A_2A AR binding affinity (K_i = 8.62 nM) as well as inverse agonist potency (IC₅₀ = 7.42 nM). In addition, bioinformatics prediction using the web tool SwissADME revealed that 8, 11, and 19 possessed good drug-likeness profiles.

New 8-amino-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-3-one derivatives. Evaluation of different moieties on the 6-aryl ring to obtain potent and selective human A2A adenosine receptor antagonists

In this work, further structural investigations on the 8-amino-2-phenyl-6-aryl-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-3-one series were carried out to achieve potent and selective human A_2A adenosine receptor (AR) antagonists. Different ether and amide moieties were attached at the para-position of the 6-phenyl ring, thus leading to compounds 1-9 and 10-18, respectively. Most of these moieties contained terminal basic rings (pyrrolidine, morpholine, piperidine and substituted piperazines) which were thought to confer good physicochemical and drug-like properties. Compounds 11-16, bearing the amide linker, possessed high affinity and selectivity for the hA_2A AR (K_i = 3.6-11.8 nM). Also derivatives 1-9, featuring an ether linker, preferentially targeted the hA_2A AR but with lower affinity, compared to those of the relative amide compounds. Docking studies, carried out at the hA_2A AR binding site, highlighted some crucial ligand-receptor interactions, particularly those provided by the appended substituent whose nature deeply affected hA_2A AR affinity.

An Integrated Pan-Cancer Analysis and Structure-Based Virtual Screening of GPR15

G protein-coupled receptor 15 (GPR15, also known as BOB) is an extensively studied orphan G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) involving human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, colonic inflammation, and smoking-related diseases. Recently, GPR15 was deorphanized and its corresponding natural ligand demonstrated an ability to inhibit cancer cell growth. However, no study reported the potential role of GPR15 in a pan-cancer manner. Using large-scale publicly available data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases, we found that GPR15 expression is significantly lower in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) and rectal adenocarcinoma (READ) than in normal tissues. Among 33 cancer types, GPR15 expression was significantly positively correlated with the prognoses of COAD, neck squamous carcinoma (HNSC), and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and significantly negatively correlated with stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD). This study also revealed that commonly upregulated gene sets in the high GPR15 expression group (stratified via median) of COAD, HNSC, LUAD, and STAD are enriched in immune systems, indicating that GPR15 might be considered as a potential target for cancer immunotherapy. Furthermore, we modelled the 3D structure of GPR15 and conducted structure-based virtual screening. The top eight hit compounds were screened and then subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for stability analysis. Our study provides novel insights into the role of GPR15 in a pan-cancer manner and discovered a potential hit compound for GPR15 antagonists.

Antioxidant-Conjugated 1,2,4-Triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-3-one Derivatives: Highly Potent and Selective Human A2A Adenosine Receptor Antagonists Possessing Protective Efficacy in Neuropathic Pain

New 8-amino-6-aryl-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-3-ones were designed to obtain dual antioxidant-human A_2A adenosine receptor (hA_2A AR) antagonists. Two sets of compounds were synthesized, the first featuring phenol rings at the 6-position, the second bearing the lipoyl and 4-hydroxy-3,5-di-tertbut-benzoyl residues appended by different linkers on the 6-phenyl ring. Several new triazolopyrazines (1-21) were potent and selective hA_2A AR antagonists (K_i = 0.17-54.5 nM). Compounds 11, 15, and 21, featuring antioxidant moieties, and compound 12, lacking the antioxidant functionality, reduced oxaliplatin-induced toxicity in microglia cells, the most active being the lipoyl-derivative 15 and the (4-hydroxy-3,5-di-tert-butyl)benzoyl-analogue 21 which were effective in reducing the oxygen free radical level. The lipoyl-derivative 15 was also able to revert oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy in the mouse. In vivo efficacy of 15 makes it a promising neuroprotective agent in oxidative stress-related diseases.

Novel 8-amino-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-3-one derivatives as potent human adenosine A1 and A2A receptor antagonists. Evaluation of their protective effect against β-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells

In this work, an enlarged series of 1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-3-ones was designed to target the human (h) A_2A adenosine receptor (AR) or both hA₁ and hA_2A ARs. The novel 8-amino-1,2,4-triazolopyrazin-3-one derivatives 1-25 featured a phenyl or a benzyl pendant at position 2 while different aryl/heteroaryl substituents were placed at position 6. Two compounds (8 and 10) endowed with high affinity (K_i = 7.2 and 10.6 nM) and a complete selectivity for the hA_2A AR were identified. Moreover, several derivatives possessed nanomolar affinity for both hA₁ and hA_2A ARs (both K_i < 20 nM) and different degrees of selectivity versus the hA₃ AR. Two selected compounds (10 and 25) demonstrated ability in preventing β-amyloid peptide (25-35)-induced neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells. Results of docking studies at the hA_2A and hA₁ AR crystal structures helped us to rationalize the observed affinity data and to highlight that the steric hindrance of the substituents at the 2- and 6-position of the bicyclic core affects the binding mode in the receptor cavity.

Novel human adenosine receptor antagonists based on the 7-amino-thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine scaffold. Structural investigations at the 2-, 5- and 7-positions to enhance affinity and tune selectivity

This paper describes the synthesis of novel 7-amino-thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines bearing different substituents at positions 2, 5 and 7 of the thiazolopyrimidine scaffold. The synthesized compounds 2-27 were evaluated in radioligand binding (A₁, A_2A and A₃) and adenylyl cyclase activity (A_2B and A_2A) assays, in order to evaluate their affinity and potency at human adenosine receptor subtypes. The current study allowed us to support that affinity and selectivity of 7-amino-thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives towards the adenosine receptor subtypes can be modulated by the nature of the groups attached at positions 2, 5 and 7 of the bicyclic scaffold. To rationalize the hypothetical binding mode of the newly synthesized compounds, we also performed docking calculations in human A_2A, A₁ and A₃ structures.