Discovery of natural pentacyclic triterpenoids as potent and selective inhibitors against human carboxylesterase 1

Discovery of the FXR/CES2 dual modulator LE-77 for the treatment of irinotecan-induced delayed diarrhea

Irinotecan (CPT-11) is a widely utilized topoisomerase I inhibitor in the treatment of colorectal cancer and other malignant tumors. However, severe and even life-threatening dose-limiting toxicity-delayed diarrhea affects the clinical application of CPT-11. The standard treatment for CPT-11-induced delayed diarrhea is prompt use of loperamide (LPA), however LPA can also cause constipation, diarrhea and even intestinal obstruction and has a high failure rate. Carboxylesterase 2 (CES2) is the main enzyme in the intestinal transformation of CPT-11, which can convert CPT-11 into toxic metabolite SN-38 and produce intestinal toxicity. Inhibiting CES2 activity can block the hydrolysis process of CPT-11 in the intestine and reduce SN-38 accumulation. Additionally, Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists have anti-inflammatory, anti-secretory, and protective functions on intestinal barrier integrity that could potentially alleviate diarrhea. In this study, we investigated for the first time the anti-delayed diarrhea effect of FXR agonists, and the first time identified LE-77 as a potent dual modulator that activates FXR and inhibits CES2 through high-throughput screening. In the CPT-11-induced delayed diarrhea model, LE-77 demonstrated a dual modulator mechanism by activating FXR and inhibiting CES2, thereby reducing the accumulation of SN-38 in the intestine, alleviating intestinal inflammation, preserving intestinal mucosal integrity, and ultimately alleviating delayed diarrhea.

Pyrazolone compounds could inhibit CES1 and ameliorates fat accumulation during adipocyte differentiation

Carboxylesterase 1 (CES1), a member of the serine hydrolase superfamily, is involved in a wide range of xenobiotic and endogenous substances metabolic reactions in mammals. The inhibition of CES1 could not only alter the metabolism and disposition of related drugs, but also be benefit for treatment of metabolic disorders, such as obesity and fatty liver disease. In the present study, we aim to develop potential inhibitors of CES1 and reveal the preferred inhibitor structure from a series of synthetic pyrazolones (compounds 1-27). By in vitro high-throughput screening method, we found compounds 25 and 27 had non-competitive inhibition on CES1-mediated N-alkylated d-luciferin methyl ester (NLMe) hydrolysis, while compound 26 competitively inhibited CES1-mediated NLMe hydrolysis. Additionally, Compounds 25, 26 and 27 can inhibit CES1-mediated fluorescent probe hydrolysis in live HepG2 cells with effect. Besides, compounds 25, 26 and 27 could effectively inhibit the accumulation of lipid droplets in mouse adipocytes cells. These data not only provided study basis for the design of newly CES1 inhibitors. The present study not only provided the basis for the development of lead compounds for novel CES1 inhibitors with better performance, but also offered a new direction for the explore of candidate compounds for the treatment of hyperlipidemia and related diseases.

Discovery of novel carboxylesterase 2 inhibitors for the treatment of delayed diarrhea and ulcerative colitis

Human carboxylesterase 2 (hCES2) is an enzyme that metabolizes irinotecan to SN-38, a toxic metabolite considered a significant source of side effects (lethal delayed diarrhea). The hCES2 inhibitors could block the hydrolysis of irinotecan in the intestine and thus reduce the exposure of intestinal SN-38, which may alleviate irinotecan-associated diarrhea. However, existing hCES2 inhibitors (except loperamide) are not used in clinical applications due to lack of validity or acceptable safety. Therefore, developing more effective and safer drugs for treating delayed diarrhea is urgently needed. This study identified a lead compound 1 with a novel scaffold by high-throughput screening in our in-house library. After a comprehensive structure-activity relationship study, the optimal compound 24 was discovered as an efficient and highly selective hCES2 inhibitor (hCES2: IC50 = 6.72 μM; hCES1: IC50 > 100 μM). Further enzyme kinetics study indicated that compound 24 is a reversible inhibitor of hCES2 with competitive inhibition mode (Ki = 6.28 μM). The cell experiments showed that compound 24 could reduce the level of hCES2 in living cells (IC50 = 6.54 μM). The modeling study suggested that compound 24 fitted very well with the binding pocket of hCES2 by forming multiple interactions. Notably, compound 24 can effectively treat irinotecan-induced delayed diarrhea and DSS-induced ulcerative colitis, and its safety has also been verified in subtoxic studies. Based on the overall pharmacological and preliminary safety profiles, compound 24 is worthy of further evaluation as a novel agent for irinotecan-induced delayed diarrhea.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation studies of novel carboxylesterase 2 inhibitors for the treatment of irinotecan-induced delayed diarrhea

Human carboxylesterase 2 (hCES2A), one of the most important serine hydrolases distributed in the small intestine and colon, plays a crucial role in the hydrolysis of various prodrugs and esters. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the inhibition of hCES2A effectively alleviate the side effects induced by some hCES2A-substrate drugs, including delayed diarrhea caused by the anticancer drug irinotecan. Nonetheless, there is a scarcity of selective and effective inhibitors that are suitable for irinotecan-induced delayed diarrhea. Following screening of the in-house library, the lead compound 01 was identified with potent inhibition on hCES2A, which was further optimized to obtain LK-44 with potent inhibitory activity (IC50 = 5.02 ± 0.67 μM) and high selectivity on hCES2A. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations indicated that LK-44 can formed stable hydrogen bonds with amino acids surrounding the active cavity of hCES2A. The results of inhibition kinetics studies unveiled that LK-44 inhibited hCES2A-mediated FD hydrolysis in a mixed inhibition manner, with a Ki value of 5.28 μM. Notably, LK-44 exhibited low toxicity towards HepG2 cells according to the MTT assay. Importantly, in vivo studies showed that LK-44 significantly reduced the side effects of irinotecan-induced diarrhea. These findings suggested that LK-44 is a potent inhibitor of hCES2A with high selectivity against hCES1A, which has potential as a lead compound for the development of more effective hCES2A inhibitors to mitigate irinotecan-induced delayed diarrhea.

Discovery of triterpenoids as potent dual inhibitors of pancreatic lipase and human carboxylesterase 1

Pancreatic lipase (PL) is a well-known key target for the prevention and treatment of obesity. Human carboxylesterase 1A (hCES1A) has become an important target for the treatment of hyperlipidaemia. Thus, the discovery of potent dual-target inhibitors based on PL and hCES1A hold great potential for the development of remedies for treating related metabolic diseases. In this study, a series of natural triterpenoids were collected and the inhibitory effects of these triterpenoids on PL and hCES1A were determined using fluorescence-based biochemical assays. It was found that oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) have the excellent inhibitory effects against PL and hCES1A, and highly selectivity over hCES2A. Subsequently, a number of compounds based on the OA and UA skeletons were synthesised and evaluated. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) analysis of these compounds revealed that the acetyl group at the C-3 site of UA (compound 41) was very essential for both PL and hCES1A inhibition, with IC₅₀ of 0.75 µM and 0.014 µM, respectively. In addition, compound 39 with 2-enol and 3-ketal moiety of OA also has strong inhibitory effects against both PL and hCES1A, with IC₅₀ of 2.13 µM and 0.055 µM, respectively. Furthermore, compound 39 and 41 exhibited good selectivity over other human serine hydrolases including hCES2A, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV). Inhibitory kinetics and molecular docking studies demonstrated that both compounds 39 and 41 were effective mixed inhibitors of PL, while competitive inhibitors of hCES1A. Further investigations demonstrated that both compounds 39 and 41 could inhibit adipocyte adipogenesis induced by mouse preadipocytes. Collectively, we found two triterpenoid derivatives with strong inhibitory ability on both PL and hCES1A, which can be served as promising lead compounds for the development of more potent dual-target inhibitors targeting on PL and hCES1A.

Human carboxylesterase 1A plays a predominant role in the hydrolytic activation of remdesivir in humans

Remdesivir, an intravenous nucleotide prodrug, has been approved for treating COVID-19 in hospitalized adults and pediatric patients. Upon administration, remdesivir can be readily hydrolyzed to form its active form GS-441524, while the cleavage of the carboxylic ester into GS-704277 is the first step for remdesivir activation. This study aims to assign the key enzymes responsible for remdesivir hydrolysis in humans, as well as to investigate the kinetics of remdesivir hydrolysis in various enzyme sources. The results showed that remdesivir could be hydrolyzed to form GS-704277 in human plasma and the microsomes from human liver (HLMs), lung (HLuMs) and kidney (HKMs), while the hydrolytic rate of remdesivir in HLMs was the fastest. Chemical inhibition and reaction phenotyping assays suggested that human carboxylesterase 1 (hCES1A) played a predominant role in remdesivir hydrolysis, while cathepsin A (CTSA), acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BchE) contributed to a lesser extent. Enzymatic kinetic analyses demonstrated that remdesivir hydrolysis in hCES1A (SHUTCM) and HLMs showed similar kinetic plots and much closed K_m values to each other. Meanwhile, GS-704277 formation rates were strongly correlated with the CES1A activities in HLM samples from different individual donors. Further investigation revealed that simvastatin (a therapeutic agent for adjuvant treating COVID-19) strongly inhibited remdesivir hydrolysis in both recombinant hCES1A and HLMs. Collectively, our findings reveal that hCES1A plays a predominant role in remdesivir hydrolysis in humans, which are very helpful for predicting inter-individual variability in response to remdesivir and for guiding the rational use of this anti-COVID-19 agent in clinical settings.

A high-throughput screening assay for dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitors using human plasma

Dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) plays a critical role in glucose metabolism and has become an important target for type 2 diabetes mellitus. We previously reported a two-photon fluorescent probe glycyl-prolyl-N-butyl-4-amino-1,8-naphthalimide (GP-BAN) for DPP-IV detection with high specificity and sensitivity. In this study, a high-throughput screening (HTS) method for DPP-IV inhibitors using human plasma as the enzyme source was established and optimized. Further investigations demonstrate that the IC50 value of sitagliptin (listed as the DPP-IV inhibitor) determined with human recombinant DPP-IV (36.22 nM) is very similar to that in human plasma (39.18 nM), and sitagliptin acts as a competitive inhibitor against human plasma DPP-IV-mediated GP-BAN hydrolysis. These results indicate that expensive human recombinant DPP-IV can be replaced by human plasma in this GP-BAN-based assay. On this basis, GP-AMC (commercial probe) was used as a comparison to verify this method, and the catalytic efficacy (Vmax/Km) for GP-AMC (0.09 min-1) hydrolysis in human plasma is lower than that for GP-BAN (0.21 min-1). Further analysis of inhibition kinetics (sitagliptin) and molecular docking (GP-BAN and GP-AMC) showed that GP-BAN has better specificity and affinity for enzymes than GP-AMC. Finally, the optimized method was used for the HTS of DPP-IV inhibitors in 69 natural alkaloids.

Discovery of pyrazolones as novel carboxylesterase 2 inhibitors that potently inhibit the adipogenesis in cells

Carboxylesterase 2 (CES2) is one of the most important Phase I drug metabolizing enzymes in the carboxylesterase family. It plays crucial roles in the bioavailability of oral ester prodrugs and the therapeutic effect of some anticancer drugs such as irinotecan (CPT11) and capecitabine. In addition to the well-known roles of CES2 in xenobiotic metabolism, the enzyme also participates in endogenous metabolism and the production of lipids. In this study, we synthesized a series of pyrazolones and assayed their inhibitory effects against CES2 in vitro. Structure-activity relationship analysis of these pyrazolones reveals that the introduction of 4-methylphenyl unit (R¹), 4-methylbenzyl (R²) and cyclohexyl (R³) moieties are beneficial for CES2 inhibition. Guided by these SARs results, 1-cyclohexyl-4-(4-methylbenzyl)-3-p-tolyl-1H- pyrazol-5(4H)-one (27) was designed and synthesized. Further investigations demonstrated that the compound 27 exhibited stronger CES2 inhibition activity with a lower IC₅₀ value (0.13 μM). The inhibition kinetic study demonstrated that compound 27 inhibited the hydrolysis of CES2-fluorescein diacetate (FD) through non-competitive inhibition. In addition, the molecular docking showed that the core of pyrazolone, the cyclohexane moiety, 4-methylbenzyl and 4-methylphenyl groups in compound 27 all played important roles with the amino acid residues of CSE2. Also, compound 27 could inhibit adipocyte adipogenesis induced by mouse preadipocytes. In brief, we designed and synthesized a novel pyrazolone compound with a strong inhibitory ability on CES2 and could inhibit the adipogenesis induced by mouse preadipocytes, which can be served as a promising lead compound for the development of more potent pyrazolone-type CES2 inhibitors, and also used as a potential tool for exploring the biological functions of CES2 in human being.

Discovery of natural alkaloids as potent and selective inhibitors against human carboxylesterase 2

Human Carboxylesterase 2A (hCES2A), one of the most important serine hydrolases, plays crucial roles in the hydrolysis and the metabolic activation of a wide range of esters and amides. Increasing evidence has indicated that potent inhibition on intestinal hCES2A may reduce the excessive accumulation of SN-38 (the hydrolytic metabolite of irinotecan with potent cytotoxicity) in the intestinal tract and thereby alleviate the intestinal toxicity triggered by irinotecan. In this study, more than sixty natural alkaloids have been collected and their inhibitory effects against hCES2A are assayed using a fluorescence-based biochemical assay. Following preliminary screening, seventeen alkaloids are found with strong to moderate hCES2A inhibition activity. Primary structure-activity relationships (SAR) analysis of natural isoquinoline alkaloids reveal that the benzo-1,3-dioxole group and the aromatic pyridine structure are beneficial for hCES2A inhibition. Further investigations demonstrate that a steroidal alkaloid reserpine exhibits strong hCES2A inhibition activity (IC₅₀ = 0.94 μM) and high selectivity over other human serine hydrolases including hCES1A, dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and thrombin. Inhibition kinetic analyses demonstrated that reserpine acts as a non-competitive inhibitor against hCES2A-mediated FD hydrolysis. Molecular docking simulations demonstrated that the potent inhibition of hCES2A by reserpine could partially be attributed to its strong σ-π and S-π interactions between reserpine and hCES2A. Collectively, our findings suggest that reserpine is a potent and highly selective inhibitor of hCES2A, which can be served as a promising lead compound for the development of more efficacious and selective alkaloids-type hCES2A inhibitors for biomedical applications.

Natural Products as Modulators of CES1 Activity

Carboxylesterase (CES) 1 is the predominant esterase expressed in the human liver and is capable of catalyzing the hydrolysis of a wide range of therapeutic agents, toxins, and endogenous compounds. Accumulating studies have demonstrated associations between the expression and activity of CES1 and the pharmacokinetics and/or pharmacodynamics of CES1 substrate medications (e.g., methylphenidate, clopidogrel, oseltamivir). Therefore, any perturbation of CES1 by coingested xenobiotics could potentially compromise treatment. Natural products are known to alter drug disposition by modulating cytochrome P450 and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase enzymes, but this issue is less thoroughly explored with CES1. We report the results of a systematic literature search and discuss natural products as potential modulators of CES1 activity. The majority of research reports reviewed were in vitro investigations that require further confirmation through clinical study. Cannabis products (Δ ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol, cannabinol); supplements from various plant sources containing naringenin, quercetin, luteolin, oleanolic acid, and asiatic acid; and certain traditional medicines (danshen and zhizhuwan) appear to pose the highest inhibition potential. In addition, ursolic acid, gambogic acid, and glycyrrhetic acid, if delivered intravenously, may attain high enough systemic concentrations to significantly inhibit CES1. The provision of a translational interpretation of in vitro assessments of natural product actions and interactions is limited by the dearth of basic pharmacokinetic data of the natural compounds exhibiting potent in vitro influences on CES1 activity. This is a major impediment to assigning even potential clinical significance. The modulatory effects on CES1 expression after chronic exposure to natural products warrants further investigation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Modulation of CES1 activity by natural products may alter the course of treatment and clinical outcome. In this review, we have summarized the natural products that can potentially interact with CES1 substrate medications. We have also noted the limitations of existing reports and outlined challenges and future directions in this field.

Serjanic Acid Improves Immunometabolic Markers in a Diet-Induced Obesity Mouse Model

Plant extracts from Cecropia genus have been used by Latin-American traditional medicine to treat metabolic disorders and diabetes. Previous reports have shown that roots of Cecropia telenitida that contains serjanic acid as one of the most prominent and representative pentacyclic triterpenes. The study aimed to isolate serjanic acid and evaluate its effect in a prediabetic murine model by oral administration. A semi-pilot scale extraction was established and serjanic acid purification was followed using direct MALDI-TOF analysis. A diet induced obesity mouse model was used to determine the impact of serjanic acid over selected immunometabolic markers. Mice treated with serjanic acid showed decreased levels of cholesterol and triacylglycerols, increased blood insulin levels, decreased fasting blood glucose and improved glucose tolerance, and insulin sensitivity. At transcriptional level, the reduction of inflammation markers related to adipocyte differentiation is reported.