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Cerra B, Venturoni F, Souma M, Ceccarelli G, Lozza AM, Passeri D, De Franco F, Baxendale IR, Pellicciari R, Macchiarulo A, Gioiello A. Development of 3α,7α-dihydroxy-6α-ethyl-24-nor-5β-cholan-23-sulfate sodium salt (INT-767): Process optimization, synthesis and characterization of metabolites. Eur J Med Chem 2022; 242:114652. [PMID: 36049273 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Herein we report our synthetic efforts in supporting the development of the bile alcohol sulfate INT-767, a FXR/TGR5 dual agonist with remarkable therapeutic potential for liver disorders. We describe the process development to a final route for large scale preparation and analogues synthesis. Key sequences include Grignard addition, a one-pot two-step shortening-reduction of the carboxylic side chain, and the final sulfation reaction. The necessity for additional steps such as the protection/deprotection of hydroxyl groups at the steroidal body was also evaluated for step-economy and formation of side-products. Critical bottlenecks such as the side chain degradation have been tackled using flow technology before scaling-up individual steps. The final synthetic route may be successfully employed to produce the amount of INT-767 required to support late-stage clinical development of the compound. Furthermore, potential metabolites have been synthesized, characterized and evaluated for their ability to modulate FXR and TGR5 receptors providing key reference standards for future drug investigations, as well as offering further insights into the structure-activity relationships of this class of compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Cerra
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Liceo 1, 06122, Perugia, Italy
| | - Francesco Venturoni
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Liceo 1, 06122, Perugia, Italy
| | - Maria Souma
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Liceo 1, 06122, Perugia, Italy
| | - Giada Ceccarelli
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Liceo 1, 06122, Perugia, Italy
| | - Anna Maria Lozza
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Liceo 1, 06122, Perugia, Italy
| | - Daniela Passeri
- TES Pharma, Via Palmiro Togliatti 20, 06073, Taverne di Corciano, Perugia, Italy
| | - Francesca De Franco
- TES Pharma, Via Palmiro Togliatti 20, 06073, Taverne di Corciano, Perugia, Italy
| | - Ian R Baxendale
- Department of Chemistry, Durham University, South Road, Durham, United Kingdom
| | - Roberto Pellicciari
- TES Pharma, Via Palmiro Togliatti 20, 06073, Taverne di Corciano, Perugia, Italy
| | - Antonio Macchiarulo
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Liceo 1, 06122, Perugia, Italy
| | - Antimo Gioiello
- Laboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Liceo 1, 06122, Perugia, Italy.
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Sharma R, Majer F, Peta VK, Wang J, Keaveney R, Kelleher D, Long A, Gilmer JF. Bile acid toxicity structure-activity relationships: correlations between cell viability and lipophilicity in a panel of new and known bile acids using an oesophageal cell line (HET-1A). Bioorg Med Chem 2010; 18:6886-95. [PMID: 20713311 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2010.07.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2010] [Revised: 07/12/2010] [Accepted: 07/13/2010] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The molecular mechanisms and interactions underlying bile acid cytotoxicity are important to understand for intestinal and hepatic disease treatment and prevention and the design of bile acid-based therapeutics. Bile acid lipophilicity is believed to be an important cytotoxicity determinant but the relationship is not well characterized. In this study we prepared new azido and other lipophilic BAs and altogether assembled a panel of 37 BAs with good dispersion in lipophilicity as reflected in RPTLC RMw. The MTT cell viability assay was used to assess cytotoxicity over 24 h in the HET-1A cell line (oesophageal). RMw values inversely correlated with cell viability for the whole set (r2=0.6) but this became more significant when non-acid compounds were excluded (r2=0.82, n=29). The association in more homologous subgroups was stronger still (r2>0.96). None of the polar compounds were cytotoxic at 500 microM, however, not all lipophilic BAs were cytotoxic. Notably, apart from the UDCA primary amide, lipophilic neutral derivatives of UDCA were not cytotoxic. Finally, CDCA, DCA and LagoDCA were prominent outliers being more toxic than predicted by RMw. In a hepatic carcinoma line, lipophilicity did not correlate with toxicity except for the common naturally occurring bile acids and their conjugates. There were other significant differences in toxicity between the two cell lines that suggest a possible basis for selective cytotoxicity. The study shows: (i) azido substitution in BAs imparts lipophilicity and toxicity depending on orientation and ionizability; (ii) there is an inverse correlation between RMw and toxicity that has good predictive value in homologous sets; (iii) lipophilicity is a necessary but apparently not sufficient characteristic for BA cytocidal activity to which it appears to be indirectly related.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruchika Sharma
- School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Cell Signalling, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity Centre for Health Science, St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
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Pellicciari R, Costantino G, Camaioni E, Sadeghpour BM, Entrena A, Willson TM, Fiorucci S, Clerici C, Gioiello A. Bile acid derivatives as ligands of the farnesoid X receptor. Synthesis, evaluation, and structure-activity relationship of a series of body and side chain modified analogues of chenodeoxycholic acid. J Med Chem 2004; 47:4559-69. [PMID: 15317466 DOI: 10.1021/jm049904b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 141] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is activated by endogenous bile acids (BAs) and plays a variety of physiological roles related to modulation of gene transcription. In particular, FXR positively regulates the cholesterol catabolism while feedback inhibits the BA synthesis by repressing the expression of the CYP7A and CYP8B genes. We have previously shown that 6alpha-ethyl-CDCA (6ECDCA) is a potent and selective FXR agonist. In this paper we report an extensive structure-activity relationship for a series of synthetic bile acids. Our results indicate that the 6alpha position plays a fundamental role in determining affinity and that the side chain of BA is amenable to a variety of chemical modification. Although none of the new derivatives is more potent than 6ECDCA, we show here that a wide variability in efficacy, from full agonists to partial antagonists, can be obtained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Pellicciari
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologia del Farmaco, Università di Perugia, Via del Liceo, 1, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
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