Aspartic protease inhibitors containing tertiary alcohol transition-state mimics

Electrochemical synthesis of 2-alkyl-4-phenylalkan-2-ols via cathodic reductive coupling of alkynes with unactivated aliphatic ketones

Herein, we present an efficient electrochemical method for synthesizing 2-alkyl-4-phenylalkan-2-ols through an electrochemically driven cathodic reductive coupling of the terminal and internal acetylenes with unactivated aliphatic ketones under mild conditions. The process proceeds through a ketyl radical, which then activates the aryl acetylene and causes complete reduction of the triple bond of the acetylene moiety. This strategy is environmentally benign and exhibits a broad substrate scope with ubiquitously available starting materials.

Fruit Peels: Food Waste as a Valuable Source of Bioactive Natural Products for Drug Discovery

Fruits along with vegetables are crucial for a balanced diet. These not only have delicious flavors but are also reported to decrease the risk of contracting various chronic diseases. Fruit by-products are produced in huge quantity during industrial processing and constitute a serious issue because they may pose a harmful risk to the environment. The proposal of employing fruit by-products, particularly fruit peels, has gradually attained popularity because scientists found that in many instances peels displayed better biological and pharmacological applications than other sections of the fruit. The aim of this review is to highlight the importance of fruit peel extracts and natural products obtained in food industries along with their other potential biological applications.

Obtainment and characterization of digestive aspartic proteases from the fish Caranx hippos (Linnaeus, 1766)

This work aimed to obtain aspartic proteases of industrial and biotechnological interest from the stomach of the crevalle jack fish (Caranx hippos). In order to do so, a crude extract (CE) of the stomach was obtained and subjected to a partial purification by salting-out, which resulted in the enzyme extract (EE) obtainment. EE proteases were characterized physicochemically and by means of zymogram. In addition, the effect of chemical agents on their activity was also assessed. By means of salting-out it was possible to obtain a purification of 1.6 times with a yield of 49.4%. Two acid proteases present in the EE were observed in zymogram. The optimum temperature and thermal stability for EE acidic proteases were 55 ºC and 45 °C, respectively. The optimum pH and pH stability found for these enzymes were pH 1.5 and 7.0, respectively. Total inhibition of EE acid proteolytic activity was observed in the presence of pepstatin A. dithiothreitol (DTT) and Ca2+ did not promote a significant effect on enzyme activity. In the presence of heavy metals, such as Al3+, Cd2+ and Hg2+, EE acidic proteases showed more than 70% of their enzymatic activity. The results show that it is possible to obtain, from the stomach of C. hippos, aspartic proteases with high proteolytic activity and characteristics that demonstrate potential for industrial and biotechnological applications.

Insights into the Role of Tick Salivary Protease Inhibitors during Ectoparasite-Host Crosstalk

Protease inhibitors (PIs) are ubiquitous regulatory proteins present in all kingdoms. They play crucial tasks in controlling biological processes directed by proteases which, if not tightly regulated, can damage the host organism. PIs can be classified according to their targeted proteases or their mechanism of action. The functions of many PIs have now been characterized and are showing clinical relevance for the treatment of human diseases such as arthritis, hepatitis, cancer, AIDS, and cardiovascular diseases, amongst others. Other PIs have potential use in agriculture as insecticides, anti-fungal, and antibacterial agents. PIs from tick salivary glands are special due to their pharmacological properties and their high specificity, selectivity, and affinity to their target proteases at the tick-host interface. In this review, we discuss the structure and function of PIs in general and those PI superfamilies abundant in tick salivary glands to illustrate their possible practical applications. In doing so, we describe tick salivary PIs that are showing promise as drug candidates, highlighting the most promising ones tested in vivo and which are now progressing to preclinical and clinical trials.

Electroreductive Olefin-Ketone Coupling

A user-friendly approach is presented to sidestep the venerable Grignard addition to unactivated ketones to access tertiary alcohols by reversing the polarity of the disconnection. In this work a ketone instead acts as a nucleophile when adding to simple unactivated olefins to accomplish the same overall transformation. The scope of this coupling is broad as enabled using an electrochemical approach, and the reaction is scalable, chemoselective, and requires no precaution to exclude air or water. Multiple applications demonstrate the simplifying nature of the reaction on multistep synthesis, and mechanistic studies point to an intuitive mechanism reminiscent of other chemical reductants such as SmI₂ (which cannot accomplish the same reaction).

Antiplasmodial activity of hydroxyethylamine analogs: Synthesis, biological activity and structure activity relationship of plasmepsin inhibitors

Malaria, particularly in endemic countries remains a threat to the human health and is the leading the cause of mortality in the tropical and sub-tropical areas. Herein, we explored new C₂ symmetric hydroxyethylamine analogs as the potential inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum; 3D7) in in-vitro cultures. All the listed compounds were also evaluated against crucial drug targets, plasmepsin II (Plm II) and IV (Plm IV), enzymes found in the digestive vacuole of the P. falciparum. Analog 10f showed inhibitory activities against both the enzymes Plm II and Plm IV (K_i, 1.93 ± 0.29 µM for Plm II; K_i, 1.99 ± 0.05 µM for Plm IV). Among all these analogs, compounds 10g selectively inhibited the activity of Plm IV (K_i, 0.84 ± 0.08 µM). In the in vitro screening assay, the growth inhibition of P. falciparum by both the analogs (IC₅₀, 2.27 ± 0.95 µM for 10f; IC₅₀, 3.11 ± 0.65 µM for 10g) displayed marked killing effect. A significant growth inhibition of the P. falciparum was displayed by analog 12c with IC₅₀ value of 1.35 ± 0.85 µM, however, it did not show inhibitory activity against either Plms. The hemolytic assay suggested that the active compounds selectively inhibit the growth of the parasite. Further, potent analogs (10f and 12c) were evaluated for their cytotoxicity towards mammalian HepG2 and vero cells. The selectivity index (SI) values were noticed greater than 10 for both the analogs that suggested their poor toxicity. The present study indicates these analogs as putative lead structures and could serve as crucial for the development of new drug molecules.

Mechanistic Basis for ATP-Dependent Inhibition of Glutamine Synthetase by Tabtoxinine-β-lactam

Tabtoxinine-β-lactam (TβL), also known as wildfire toxin, is a time- and ATP-dependent inhibitor of glutamine synthetase produced by plant pathogenic strains of Pseudomonas syringae. Here we demonstrate that recombinant glutamine synthetase from Escherichia coli phosphorylates the C3-hydroxyl group of the TβL 3-(S)-hydroxy-β-lactam (3-HβL) warhead. Phosphorylation of TβL generates a stable, noncovalent enzyme-ADP-inhibitor complex that resembles the glutamine synthetase tetrahedral transition state. The TβL β-lactam ring remains intact during enzyme inhibition, making TβL mechanistically distinct from traditional β-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin. Our findings could enable the design of new 3-HβL transition state inhibitors targeting enzymes in the ATP-dependent carboxylate-amine ligase superfamily with broad therapeutic potential in many disease areas.

2-Substituted-thio-N-(4-substituted-thiazol/1H-imidazol-2-yl)acetamides as BACE1 inhibitors: Synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies

In this work, a series of 2-substituted-thio-N-(4-substituted-thiazol/1H-imidazol-2-yl)acetamide derivatives were developed as β-secretase (BACE-1) inhibitors. Supported by docking study, a small library of derivatives were designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated in vitro. In addition, the selected compounds were tested with affinity (K_D) towards BACE-1, blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability and cytotoxicity. The studies revealed that the most potent analog 41 (IC₅₀ = 4.6 μM) with high predicted BBB permeability and low cellular cytotoxicity, could serve as a good lead structure for further optimization.

Different intra- and inter-molecular hydrogen-bonding patterns in (3S,4aS,8aS)-2-[(2R,3S)-3-(2,5-X2-benzamido)-2-(2,5-X2-benzo-yloxy)-4-phenyl-butyl]-N-tert-butyldeca-hydro-iso-quinoline-3-carboxamides (X = H or Cl): compounds with moderate aspartyl protease inhibition activity

The crystal structures of (3S,4aS,8aS)-2-[(2R,3S)-3-benzamido-2-benzo-yloxy-4-phenyl-but-yl]-N-tert-butyldeca-hydro-iso-quinoline-3-carboxamide, C38H47N3O4, (I), and (3S,4aS,8aS)-2-[(2R,3S)-3-(2,5-di-chloro-benzamido)-2-(2,5-di-chloro-benzo-yloxy)-4-phenyl-but-yl]-N-tert-butyldeca-hydro-iso-quinoline-3-carboxamide, C38H43Cl4N3O4, (II), are described. Despite their chemical similarity, they adopt different conformations in the solid state: (I) features a bifurcated intra-molecular N-H⋯(N,O) hydrogen bond from the tert-butylamide NH group to the piperidine N atom and the benzoate O atom, whereas (II) has an intra-molecular N-H⋯O link from the benzamide NH group to the tert-butyl-amide O atom. In the crystal of (I), mol-ecules are linked by C(4) amide N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into chains propagating in the [010] direction, with both donor and acceptor parts of the benzamide group. In the extended structure of (II), C(11) N-H⋯O chains propagating in the [010] direction arise, with the donor being the tert-butylamide NH group and the acceptor being the O atom of the benzamide group.

Probing Lipophilic Adamantyl Group as the P1-Ligand for HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors: Design, Synthesis, Protein X-ray Structural Studies, and Biological Evaluation

A series of potent HIV-1 protease inhibitors with a lipophilic adamantyl P1 ligand have been designed, synthesized, and evaluated. We have developed an enantioselective synthesis of adamantane-derived hydroxyethylamine isosteres utilizing Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation as the key step. Various inhibitors incorporating P1-adamantylmethyl in combination with P2 ligands such as 3-(R)-THF, 3-(S)-THF, bis-THF, and THF-THP were examined. The S1' pocket was also probed with phenyl and phenylmethyl ligands. Inhibitor 15d, with an isobutyl P1' ligand and a bis-THF P2 ligand, proved to be the most potent of the series. The cLogP value of inhibitor 15d is improved compared to inhibitor 2 with a phenylmethyl P1-ligand. X-ray structural studies of 15d, 15h, and 15i with HIV-1 protease complexes revealed molecular insight into the inhibitor-protein interaction.

Exploration of the P3 region of PEXEL peptidomimetics leads to a potent inhibitor of the Plasmodium protease, plasmepsin V

The use of arginine isosteres is a known strategy to overcome poor membrane permeability commonly associated with peptides or peptidomimetics that possess this highly polar amino acid. Here, we apply this strategy to peptidomimetics that are potent inhibitors of the malarial protease, plasmepsin V, with the aim of enhancing their activity against Plasmodium parasites, and exploring the structure-activity relationship of the P3 arginine within the S3 pocket of plasmepsin V. Of the arginine isosteres trialled in the P3 position, we discovered that canavanine was the ideal and that this peptidomimetic potently inhibits plasmepsin V, efficiently blocks protein export and inhibits parasite growth. Structure studies of the peptidomimetics bound to plasmepsin V provided insight into the structural basis for the enzyme activity observed in vitro and provides further evidence why plasmepsin V is highly sensitive to substrate modification.

Fragment-Based Discovery of 2-Aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-ones As Novel Class Nonpeptidomimetic Inhibitors of the Plasmepsins I, II, and IV

2-Aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-ones were identified as a novel class of malaria digestive vacuole plasmepsin inhibitors by using NMR-based fragment screening against Plm II. Initial fragment hit optimization led to a submicromolar inhibitor, which was cocrystallized with Plm II to produce an X-ray structure of the complex. The structure showed that 2-aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-ones bind to the open flap conformation of the enzyme and provided clues to target the flap pocket. Further improvement in potency was achieved via introduction of hydrophobic substituents occupying the flap pocket. Most of the 2-aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-one based inhibitors show a similar activity against digestive Plms I, II, and IV and >10-fold selectivity versus CatD, although varying the flap pocket substituent led to one Plm IV selective inhibitor. In cell-based assays, the compounds show growth inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 with IC50 ∼ 1 μM. Together, these results suggest 2-aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-ones as perspective leads for future development of an antimalarial agent.

Picomolar Inhibition of Plasmepsin V, an Essential Malaria Protease, Achieved Exploiting the Prime Region

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites. It results in an annual death-toll of ~ 600,000. Resistance to all medications currently in use exists, and novel antimalarial drugs are urgently needed. Plasmepsin V (PmV) is an essential Plasmodium protease and a highly promising antimalarial target, which still lacks molecular characterization and drug-like inhibitors. PmV, cleaving the PExEl motif, is the key enzyme for PExEl-secretion, an indispensable parasitic process for virulence and infection. Here, we describe the accessibility of PmV catalytic pockets to inhibitors and propose a novel strategy for PmV inhibition. We also provide molecular and structural data suitable for future drug development. Using high-throughput platforms, we identified a novel scaffold that interferes with PmV in-vitro at picomolar ranges (~ 1,000-fold more active than available compounds). Via systematic replacement of P and P' regions, we assayed the physico-chemical requirements for PmV inhibition, achieving an unprecedented IC₅₀ of ~20 pM. The hydroxyethylamine moiety, the hydrogen acceptor group in P₂', the lipophilic groups upstream to P₃, the arginine and other possible substitutions in position P₃ proved to be critically important elements in achieving potent inhibition. In-silico analyses provided essential QSAR information and model validation. Our inhibitors act ‘on-target’, confirmed by cellular interference of PmV function and biochemical interaction with inhibitors. Our inhibitors are poorly performing against parasite growth, possibly due to poor stability of their peptidic component and trans-membrane permeability. The lowest IC₅₀ for parasite growth inhibition was ~ 15μM. Analysis of inhibitor internalization revealed important pharmacokinetic features for PExEl-based molecules. Our work disclosed novel pursuable drug design strategies for highly efficient PmV inhibition highlighting novel molecular elements necessary for picomolar activity against PmV. All the presented data are discussed in respect to human aspartic proteases and previously reported inhibitors, highlighting differences and proposing new strategies for drug development.