Recent developments and strategies for the discovery of TACE inhibitors

INTRODUCTION

TNF-α plays a central role in certain autoimmune diseases as well as in inflammation. The current strategy for excluding TNF-α from circulation is to selectively inhibit TNF-α converting enzyme (TACE), an enzyme that cleaves mTNF-α to active TNF-α. Various TACE inhibitors have been discovered by using different strategies to control inflammatory diseases, cancer, and cardiac hypertrophy.

AREAS COVERED

The present article summarizes the design and discovery of novel TACE inhibitors that have been reported in the literature since 2012 onwards. It also includes some reports concerning the new role that TACE plays in cancer and cardiac hypertrophy.

EXPERT OPINION

So far, undertaken studies that have looked to design and develop small TACE inhibitors have been discouraging due to the failure of any TACE inhibitors to hit the market. However, some of the latest developments, such as with tartrate-based inhibitors, has given hope to the potentiality of a viable novel selective TACE inhibitor therapeutic in the future. Indeed, some of the novel peptidomimetics and monoclonal antibodies have great potential to pave the way for an effective and safe therapy by selectively inhibiting TACE enzyme.

2D-SAR, Topomer CoMFA and molecular docking studies on avian influenza neuraminidase inhibitors

Avian influenza is a serious zoonotic infectious disease with huge negative impacts on local poultry farming, human health and social stability. Therefore, the design of new compounds against avian influenza has been the focus in this field. In this study, computational methods were applied to investigate the compounds with neuraminidase inhibitory activity. First, 2D-SAR model was built to recognize neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs). As a result, the accuracy of 10 cross-validation and independent tests is 96.84% and 98.97%, respectively. Then, the Topomer CoMFA model was constructed to predict the inhibitory activity and analyses molecular fields. Two models were obtained by changing the cutting methods. The second model is employed to predict the activity (q2 = 0.784 and r2 = 0.982). Molecular docking was also used to further analyze the binding sites between NAIs and neuraminidase from human and avian virus. As a result, it is found that same binding Total Score has some differences, but the binding sites are basically the same. At last, some potential NAIs were screened and some optimal opinions were taken. It is expected that our study can assist to study and develop new types of NAIs.

Development of a credible 3D-QSAR CoMSIA model and docking studies for a series of triazoles and tetrazoles containing 11β-HSD1 inhibitors

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is described by insulin resistance and high fasting blood glucose. Increased levels of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) enzyme result in insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Inhibition of 11β-HSD1 decreases glucose production and increases hepatic insulin sensitivity. Use of selective 11β-HSD1 inhibitors could prove to be an effective strategy for the treatment of the disease. It was decided to identify the essential structural features required by any compound to possess 11β-HSD1 inhibitory activity. A dataset of 139 triazoles and tetrazoles having 11β-HSD1 inhibitory activity was used for the development of a 3D-QSAR model. The best comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) model was generated with databased alignment, which was further used for comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA). The optimal CoMSIA model showed [Formula: see text] = 0.809 with five components, [Formula: see text] = 0.931, SEE = 0.323 and F-value = 249.126. The CoMSIA model offered better prediction than the CoMFA model with [Formula: see text] = 0.522 and 0.439, respectively, indicating that the CoMSIA model appeared to be a better one for the prediction of activity for the newly designed 11β-HSD1 inhibitors. The selectivity aspect of 11β-HSD1 over 11β-HSD2 was studied with the help of docking studies.

Indole-diterpenoids with anti-H1N1 activity from the aciduric fungus Penicillium camemberti OUCMDZ-1492

An aciduric fungal strain, Penicillium camemberti OUCMDZ-1492, was isolated from an acidic marine niche, mangrove soil and mud, around the roots of Rhizophora apiculata. Six new indole-diterpenoids (1-6), along with five known analogues, emindole SB (7), 21-isopentenylpaxilline (8), paspaline (9), paxilline (10), and dehydroxypaxilline (11), were isolated from the fermentation broth of P. camemberti OUCMDZ-1492 grown at pH 5.0. On the basis of spectroscopic analyses, CD spectra, quantum ECD calculations, and chemical methods, new structures 1-6 were established as 3-deoxo-4b-deoxypaxilline, 4a-demethylpaspaline-4a-carboxylic acid, 4a-demethylpaspaline-3,4,4a-triol, 2'-hydroxypaxilline, 9,10-diisopentenylpaxilline, and (6S,7R,10E,14E)-16-(1H-indol-3-yl)-2,6,10,14-tetramethylhexadeca-2,10,14-triene-6,7-diol, respectively. Compounds 1-3 and 5-10 exhibited significant activity against the H1N1 virus with IC50 values of 28.3, 38.9, 32.2, 73.3, 34.1, 26.2, 6.6, 77.9, and 17.7 μM, respectively. The results showed that 3-oxo, 4b-hydroxy, and 9-isopentenyl substitutions tend to increase the anti-H1N1 activity of hexacyclic indole-diterpenoids.