Design and synthesis of macrocyclic inhibitors of phosphatase Cdc25B

A Comprehensive Overview of the Developments of Cdc25 Phosphatase Inhibitors

Cdc25 phosphatases have been considered promising targets for anticancer development due to the correlation of their overexpression with a wide variety of cancers. In the last two decades, the interest in this subject has considerably increased and many publications have been launched concerning this issue. An overview is constructed based on data analysis of the results of the previous publications covering the years from 1992 to 2021. Thus, the main objective of the current review is to report the chemical structures of Cdc25s inhibitors and answer the question, how to design an inhibitor with better efficacy and lower toxicity?

Design and synthesis of new potent PTP1B inhibitors with the skeleton of 2-substituted imino-3-substituted-5-heteroarylidene-1,3-thiazolidine-4-one: Part I

A new series of 2-substituted imino-3-substituted-5- heteroarylidene-1,3-thiazolidine-4-ones as the potent bidentate PTP1B inhibitors were designed and synthesized in this paper. All of the new compounds were characterized and identified by spectra analysis. The biological screening test against PTP1B showed that some of these compounds have the positive inhibitory activity against PTP1B. The activity of the compounds with 5-substituted pyrrole on 5-postion of 1,3-thiazolidine-4-one are more potent than that of those compounds with 5-substituted pyridine group. Compound 14b, 14h and 14i showed IC50 values of 8.66 μM, 6.83 μM and 6.09 μM against PTP1B, respectively. Docking analysis of these active compounds with PTP1B showed the possible interaction modes of these biheterocyclic compounds with the active sites of PTP1B. The inhibition tests against oncogenetic CDC25B were also conducted on this set of compounds to evaluate the selectivity and possible anti-neoplastic activity. Compound 14b also showed the lowest IC50 of 1.66 μM against CDC25B among all the possible inhibitors, including 14g, 14h, 14i and 15c. Some pharmacological parameters including VolSurf, steric and electric descriptors of all the compounds were calculated to give some hints about the relative relationship with the biological activity. The result of this study might give some light on designing the possible anti-cancer drugs targeting at phosphatases. The most active compound 14i might be used as the lead compound for further structure modification of the new low molecular weight PTP1B inhibitors with the N-containing heterocyclic skeleton.

A Green, Facile Approach for the Multicomponent Synthesis of Bioactive Spiro[Indoline-3,7′-Pyrrolo[1,2-c]Imidazole] Derivatives

An efficient synthesis of spiro[indoline-3,7′-pyrrolo[1,2-c]imidazole] is achieved through a three-component reaction of isatins, malononitrile, and hydantoin/2-thiohydantoin in water catalysed by NaHCO3. All the target compounds were screened for the Cell Division Cycle 25 Phosphatase B (CDC25B) inhibitory activities.

Allylic Amines as Key Building Blocks in the Synthesis of (E)-Alkene Peptide Isosteres

Nucleophilic imine additions with vinyl organometallics have developed into efficient, high yielding, and robust methodologies to generate structurally diverse allylic amines. We have used the hydrozirconation-transmetalation-imine addition protocol in the synthesis of allylic amine intermediates for peptide bond isosteres, phosphatase inhibitors, and mitochondria-targeted peptide mimetics. The gramicidin S-derived XJB-5-131 and JP4-039 and their analogs have been prepared on up to 160 g scale for preclinical studies. These (E)-alkene peptide isosteres adopt type II' β-turn secondary structures and display impressive biological properties, including selective reactions with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and prevention of apoptosis.

Is Cdc25 a druggable target?

Proper control of cell cycle progression requires the functionality of a small family of activating phosphatases termed Cdc25, which have been implicated in cancer and Alzheimer's disease. These protein tyrosine phosphatases are therefore recognized as attractive molecular targets for small molecules. We review the rationale, approaches, progress and challenges for developing small molecule inhibitors of the Cdc25 family. A number of potential chemical probes are discussed and their characteristics are summarized.

What's new on CDC25 phosphatase inhibitors

The CDC25 phosphatases are key regulators of cell cycle progression and play a central role in the checkpoint response to DNA damage. Their inhibition may therefore represent a promising therapeutic approach in oncology, and small molecule design strategies are currently leading to the identification of various classes of CDC25 inhibitors. Most structures developed so far are quinonoid-based compounds, but also phosphate surrogates or electrophilic entities. Considering the characteristics of the highly conserved active sites of the enzymes, many mechanisms of action have been proposed for these inhibitors. Quinonoid compounds may oxidize the catalytic site cysteine, but can also be considered as Michaël acceptors capable of reacting with the activated thiolate or other electrophilic entities. Phosphate surrogates are thought to interfere with the arginine residue, leading to reversible enzyme inhibition. But some inhibitors can combine in the same molecule several of these mechanisms, thus by fitting into the active site of the enzyme through one part of the molecule and bringing the reactive moiety in close proximity to the catalytic cysteine. This review summarizes novel classes of inhibitors that show specificity for the CDC25s over other phosphatases, cause cell proliferation inhibition and cell cycle arrest in vitro but also, for several of them, inhibition of xenografted tumoral cell growth in vivo. These promising results confirm the interest of the inhibition of CDC25 phosphatases as an anticancer therapeutic strategy.

Inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatases: next-generation drugs?

The protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) constitute a family of closely related key regulatory enzymes that dephosphorylate phosphotyrosine residues in their protein substrates. Malfunctions in PTP activity are linked to various diseases, ranging from cancer to neurological disorders and diabetes. Consequently, PTPs have emerged as promising targets for therapeutic intervention in recent years. In this review, general aspects of PTPs and the development of small-molecule inhibitors of PTPs by both academic research groups and pharmaceutical companies are discussed. Different strategies have been successfully applied to identify potent and selective inhibitors. These studies constitute the basis for the future development of PTP inhibitors as drugs.

Synthesis of miltirone analogues as inhibitors of Cdc25 phosphatases

Miltirone analogues were synthesized and evaluated for inhibitory activity against Cdc25 and PTP1B. Most of the compounds demonstrated potent Cdc25 inhibitory activity, and several exhibited higher selectivity for Cdc25 than for PTP1B. In a cytotoxic assay, most of the compounds displayed cytotoxicity against the tumor cell lines A549 and HCT-116, producing IC(50) values in the micromolar range.

DUAL SPECIFICITY PROTEIN PHOSPHATASES: Therapeutic Targets for Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease

The complete sequencing of the human genome is generating many novel targets for drug discovery. Understanding the pathophysiological roles of these putative targets and assessing their suitability for therapeutic intervention has become the major hurdle for drug discovery efforts. The dual-specificity phosphatases (DSPases), which dephosphorylate serine, threonine, and tyrosine residues in the same protein substrate, have important roles in multiple signaling pathways and appear to be deregulated in cancer and Alzheimer's disease. We examine the potential of DSPases as new molecular therapeutic targets for the treatment of human disease.

Small-Molecule Diversity Using a Skeletal Transformation Strategy

[reaction: see text] We describe a short synthetic sequence resulting in >4000 skeletally diverse small molecules that have three distinct skeletal frameworks among other unique structural features. The sequence entails skeletal transformations pioneered by Winterfeldt and co-workers. We use epoxide ring openings and subsequent functionalizations that provide, e.g., spirocyclic oxazolidines, Lewis acid catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions of a steroid-derived diene that afford stable and isolable ring B adducts, and subsequent retro-Diels-Alder fragmentations that yield 14-membered paracyclophanes.