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Falkenstern L, Georgi V, Bunse S, Badock V, Husemann M, Roehn U, Stellfeld T, Fitzgerald M, Ferrara S, Stöckigt D, Stresemann C, Hartung IV, Fernández-Montalván A. A miniaturized mode-of-action profiling platform enables high throughput characterization of the molecular and cellular dynamics of EZH2 inhibition. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1739. [PMID: 38242973 PMCID: PMC10799085 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50964-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
The market approval of Tazemetostat (TAZVERIK) for the treatment of follicular lymphoma and epithelioid sarcoma has established "enhancer of zeste homolog 2" (EZH2) as therapeutic target in oncology. Despite their structural similarities and common mode of inhibition, Tazemetostat and other EZH2 inhibitors display differentiated pharmacological profiles based on their target residence time. Here we established high throughput screening methods based on time-resolved fluorescence energy transfer, scintillation proximity and high content analysis microscopy to quantify the biochemical and cellular binding of a chemically diverse collection of EZH2 inhibitors. These assays allowed to further characterize the interplay between EZH2 allosteric modulation by methylated histone tails (H3K27me3) and inhibitor binding, and to evaluate the impact of EZH2's clinically relevant mutant Y641N on drug target residence times. While all compounds in this study exhibited slower off-rates, those with clinical candidate status display significantly slower target residence times in wild type EZH2 and disease-related mutants. These inhibitors interact in a more entropy-driven fashion and show the most persistent effects in cellular washout and antiproliferative efficacy experiments. Our work provides mechanistic insights for the largest cohort of EZH2 inhibitors reported to date, demonstrating that-among several other binding parameters-target residence time is the best predictor of cellular efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lilia Falkenstern
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Rentschler Biopharma SE, Erwin-Rentschler-Straße 21, 88471, Laupheim, Germany
| | - Victoria Georgi
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefanie Bunse
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Volker Badock
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Ulrike Roehn
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Timo Stellfeld
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mark Fitzgerald
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nested Therapeutics, 1030 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 410, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Steven Ferrara
- Broad Institute, Merkin Building, 415 Main St, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Detlef Stöckigt
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Carlo Stresemann
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ingo V Hartung
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Merck KGaA, Frankfurter Str. 250, 64293, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Amaury Fernández-Montalván
- Bayer AG, Müllerstrasse 178, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Birkendorfer Str. 65, 88400, Biberach an der Riß, Germany.
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2
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Sun L, Nie P, Luan L, Herdewijn P, Wang YT. Synthetic approaches and application of clinically approved small-molecule Anti-HIV drugs: An update. Eur J Med Chem 2023; 261:115847. [PMID: 37801826 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.115847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Revised: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/08/2023]
Abstract
Application of chemotherapeutic agents to inhibit the HIV replication process has brought about a significant metamorphosis in the landscape of AIDS. Substantial declines in morbidity and mortality rates have been attained, accompanied by notable decreases in healthcare resource utilization. However, treatment modalities do not uniformly inhibit HIV replication in every patient, while the emergence of drug-resistant viral strains poses a substantial obstacle to subsequent therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, chronic administration of therapy may lead to the manifestation of toxicities. These challenges necessitate the exploration of novel pharmacological agents and innovative therapeutic approaches aimed at effectively managing the persistent viral replication characteristic of chronic infection. This review examines the role of clinically approved small-molecule drugs in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, which provides an in-depth analysis of the major classes of small-molecule drugs, including nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs), integrase inhibitors, entry inhibitors, and pharmacokinetic enhancers. The review mainly discusses the application, synthetic routes, and mechanisms of action of small-molecule drugs employed in the treatment of HIV, as well as their use in combination with antiretroviral therapy, presenting viewpoints on forthcoming avenues in the development of novel anti-HIV drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Sun
- Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Dalian University, Dalian, 116001, China
| | - Peng Nie
- Medicinal Chemistry, Rega Institute of Medical Research, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Li Luan
- Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Dalian University, Dalian, 116001, China.
| | - Piet Herdewijn
- Medicinal Chemistry, Rega Institute of Medical Research, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Ya-Tao Wang
- First People's Hospital of Shangqiu, Henan Province, Shangqiu, 476100, China; Medicinal Chemistry, Rega Institute of Medical Research, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
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3
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Espinosa-Saez R, Robledo SM, Pineda T, Murillo J, Zúñiga C, Yañez O, Cantero-López P, Saez-Vega A, Guzmán-Teran C. Screening of the antileishmanial and antiplasmodial potential of synthetic 2-arylquinoline analogs. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17523. [PMID: 37845281 PMCID: PMC10579228 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43805-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, six analogs of 2-arylquinoline were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro and in vivo antiplasmodial and leishmanicidal activity. At a later stage, hemolytic activity and druggability were tested in vitro and in silico, respectively, observing as a result: firstly, compounds showed half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) values between 3.6 and 19.3 µM. Likewise, a treatment using the compounds 4a-f caused improvement in most of the treated hamsters and cured some of them. Regarding the antiplasmodial activity, the compounds showed moderate to high activity, although they did not show hemolytic activity. Furthermore, 4e and 4f compounds were not able to control P. berghei infection when administered to animal models. Molecular dynamic simulations, molecular docking and ligand binding affinity indicate good characteristics of the studied compounds, which are expected to be active. And lastly, the compounds are absorbable at the hematoencephalic barrier but not in the gastrointestinal tract. In summary, ADMET properties suggest that these molecules may be used as a safe treatment against Leishmania.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Espinosa-Saez
- Grupo de Investigación, Evaluación y Desarrollo de Fármacos y Afines-IDEFARMA, Departamento de Regencia y Farmacia, Universidad de Córdoba, Montería, Córdoba, Colombia
| | - Sara M Robledo
- Programa de Estudio y Control de Enfermedades Tropicales-PECET, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
| | - Tatiana Pineda
- Corporación de Innovación Para el Desarrollo de Productos, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
| | - Javier Murillo
- Corporación de Innovación Para el Desarrollo de Productos, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
| | - César Zúñiga
- Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Agronomía, Universidad de Las Américas, Sede Providencia, Santiago, Chile
- Facultad de Ingeniería y Negocios, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago, Chile
| | - Osvaldo Yañez
- Núcleo de Investigación en Data Science, Facultad de Ingeniería y Negocios, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago, Chile
| | - Plinio Cantero-López
- Departamento de Ciencias, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Químicas, Universidad Andres Bello, Viña del Mar, Chile
- Center of Applied Nanoscience (CANS), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Relativistic Molecular Physics Group (ReMoPh), PhD Program in Molecular Physical Chemistry, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Alex Saez-Vega
- Escuela de Ciencias Aplicadas e Ingenierías, Universidad EAFIT, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Camilo Guzmán-Teran
- Grupo de Investigación, Evaluación y Desarrollo de Fármacos y Afines-IDEFARMA, Departamento de Regencia y Farmacia, Universidad de Córdoba, Montería, Córdoba, Colombia.
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4
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Lamanna G, Delre P, Marcou G, Saviano M, Varnek A, Horvath D, Mangiatordi GF. GENERA: A Combined Genetic/Deep-Learning Algorithm for Multiobjective Target-Oriented De Novo Design. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:5107-5119. [PMID: 37556857 PMCID: PMC10466378 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023]
Abstract
This study introduces a new de novo design algorithm called GENERA that combines the capabilities of a deep-learning algorithm for automated drug-like analogue design, called DeLA-Drug, with a genetic algorithm for generating molecules with desired target-oriented properties. Specifically, GENERA was applied to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) target, which is implicated in many pathological conditions, including COVID-19. The ability of GENERA to de novo design promising candidates for a specific target was assessed using two docking programs, PLANTS and GLIDE. A fitness function based on the Pareto dominance resulting from computed PLANTS and GLIDE scores was applied to demonstrate the algorithm's ability to perform multiobjective optimizations effectively. GENERA can quickly generate focused libraries that produce better scores compared to a starting set of known ACE-2 binders. This study is the first to utilize a DL-based algorithm designed for analogue generation as a mutational operator within a GA framework, representing an innovative approach to target-oriented de novo design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Lamanna
- Chemistry
Department, University of Bari “Aldo
Moro”, Via E.
Orabona, 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy
- CNR
− Institute of Crystallography, Via Amendola 122/o, 70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Pietro Delre
- CNR
− Institute of Crystallography, Via Amendola 122/o, 70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Gilles Marcou
- Laboratoire
de Chémoinformatique UMR7140, 4 rue Blaise Pascal, 67000 Strasbourg, France
| | - Michele Saviano
- CNR
− Institute of Crystallography, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Alexandre Varnek
- Laboratoire
de Chémoinformatique UMR7140, 4 rue Blaise Pascal, 67000 Strasbourg, France
| | - Dragos Horvath
- Laboratoire
de Chémoinformatique UMR7140, 4 rue Blaise Pascal, 67000 Strasbourg, France
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Benites J, Valderrama JA, Contreras Á, Enríquez C, Pino-Rios R, Yáñez O, Buc Calderon P. Discovery of New 2-Phenylamino-3-acyl-1,4-naphthoquinones as Inhibitors of Cancer Cells Proliferation: Searching for Intra-Cellular Targets Playing a Role in Cancer Cells Survival. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28114323. [PMID: 37298798 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28114323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 05/13/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
A series of 2-phenylamino-3-acyl-1,4-naphtoquinones were evaluated regarding their in vitro antiproliferative activities using DU-145, MCF-7 and T24 cancer cells. Such activities were discussed in terms of molecular descriptors such as half-wave potentials, hydrophobicity and molar refractivity. Compounds 4 and 11 displayed the highest antiproliferative activity against the three cancer cells and were therefore further investigated. The in silico prediction of drug likeness, using pkCSM and SwissADME explorer online, shows that compound 11 is a suitable lead molecule to be developed. Moreover, the expressions of key genes were studied in DU-145 cancer cells. They include genes involved in apoptosis (Bcl-2), tumor metabolism regulation (mTOR), redox homeostasis (GSR), cell cycle regulation (CDC25A), cell cycle progression (TP53), epigenetic (HDAC4), cell-cell communication (CCN2) and inflammatory pathways (TNF). Compound 11 displays an interesting profile because among these genes, mTOR was significantly less expressed as compared to control conditions. Molecular docking shows that compound 11 has good affinity with mTOR, unraveling a potential inhibitory effect on this protein. Due to the key role of mTOR on tumor metabolism, we suggest that impaired DU-145 cells proliferation by compound 11 is caused by a reduced mTOR expression (less mTOR protein) and inhibitory activity on mTOR protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julio Benites
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile
| | - Jaime A Valderrama
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile
- Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Química y de Farmacia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago 7820436, Chile
| | - Álvaro Contreras
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile
| | - Cinthya Enríquez
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile
| | - Ricardo Pino-Rios
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile
| | - Osvaldo Yáñez
- Núcleo de Investigación en Data Science, Facultad de Ingeniería y Negocios, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago 7500000, Chile
| | - Pedro Buc Calderon
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile
- Research Group in Metabolism and Nutrition, Louvain Drug Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, 73 Avenue E. Mounier, 1200 Brussels, Belgium
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6
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Hooper A, Macdonald JD, Reilly B, Maw J, Wirrick AP, Han SH, Lindsey AA, Rico EG, Romigh T, Goins CM, Wang NS, Stauffer S. SARS-CoV-2 3CL-protease inhibitors derived from ML300: investigation of P1 and replacements of the 1,2,3-benzotriazole. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2880312. [PMID: 37214977 PMCID: PMC10197776 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2880312/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Starting from compound 5 (CCF0058981), a structure-based optimization of the P1 subsite was performed against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) main protease (3CLpro). Inhibitor 5 and the compounds disclosed bind to 3CLpro using a non-covalent mode of action that utilize a His163 H-bond interaction in the S1 subpocket. In an effort to examine more structurally diverse P1 groups a number of azoles and heterocycles were designed. Several azole ring systems and replacements, including C-linked azoles, with similar or enhanced potency relative to 5 were discovered (28, 29, and 30) with demonstrated IC50 values less than 100 nM. In addition, pyridyl and isoquinoline P1 groups were successful as P1 replacements leading to 3-methyl pyridyl 36 (IC50 = 85 nM) and isoquinoline 27 (IC50 = 26 nM). High resolution X-ray crystal structures of these inhibitors were utilized to confirm binding orientation and guide optimization. These findings have implications towards antiviral development and preparedness to combat SARS-like zoonotic coronavirus outbreaks.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Joshua Maw
- Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute
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7
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Jiang X, Huang B, Rumrill S, Pople D, Zalloum WA, Kang D, Zhao F, Ji X, Gao Z, Hu L, Wang Z, Xie M, De Clercq E, Ruiz FX, Arnold E, Pannecouque C, Liu X, Zhan P. Discovery of diarylpyrimidine derivatives bearing piperazine sulfonyl as potent HIV-1 nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Commun Chem 2023; 6:83. [PMID: 37120482 PMCID: PMC10148624 DOI: 10.1038/s42004-023-00888-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/01/2023] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 reverse transcriptase is one of the most attractive targets for the treatment of AIDS. However, the rapid emergence of drug-resistant strains and unsatisfactory drug-like properties seriously limit the clinical application of HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). Here we show that a series of piperazine sulfonyl-bearing diarylpyrimidine-based NNRTIs were designed to improve the potency against wild-type and NNRTI-resistant strains by enhancing backbone-binding interactions. Among them, compound 18b1 demonstrates single-digit nanomolar potency against the wild-type and five mutant HIV-1 strains, which is significantly better than the approved drug etravirine. The co-crystal structure analysis and molecular dynamics simulation studies were conducted to explain the broad-spectrum inhibitory activity of 18b1 against reverse transcriptase variants. Besides, compound 18b1 demonstrates improved water solubility, cytochrome P450 liability, and other pharmacokinetic properties compared to the currently approved diarylpyrimidine (DAPY) NNRTIs. Therefore, we consider compound 18b1 a potential lead compound worthy of further study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangyi Jiang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Boshi Huang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Shawn Rumrill
- Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
| | - David Pople
- Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
| | - Waleed A Zalloum
- Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Science, American University of Madaba, P.O Box 2882, Amman, 11821, Jordan
| | - Dongwei Kang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
- China-Belgium Collaborative Research Center for Innovative Antiviral Drugs of Shandong Province, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Fabao Zhao
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Xiangkai Ji
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Zhen Gao
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Lide Hu
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Zhao Wang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Minghui Xie
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China
| | - Erik De Clercq
- Rega Institute for Medical Research, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, K.U.Leuven, Herestraat 49 Postbus 1043 (09.A097), B-3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Francesc X Ruiz
- Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
| | - Eddy Arnold
- Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
| | - Christophe Pannecouque
- Rega Institute for Medical Research, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, K.U.Leuven, Herestraat 49 Postbus 1043 (09.A097), B-3000, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Xinyong Liu
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China.
- China-Belgium Collaborative Research Center for Innovative Antiviral Drugs of Shandong Province, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China.
| | - Peng Zhan
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China.
- China-Belgium Collaborative Research Center for Innovative Antiviral Drugs of Shandong Province, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, PR China.
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8
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Yañez O, Osorio MI, Osorio E, Tiznado W, Ruíz L, García C, Nagles O, Simirgiotis MJ, Castañeta G, Areche C, García-Beltrán O. Antioxidant activity and enzymatic of lichen substances: A study based on cyclic voltammetry and theoretical. Chem Biol Interact 2023; 372:110357. [PMID: 36693444 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2023.110357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
The antioxidant activity of nine lichen substances, including methylatrarate (1), methyl haematommate (2), lobaric acid (3), fumarprotocetraric acid (4), sphaerophorin (5), subsphaeric acid (6), diffractaic acid (7), barbatolic acid (8) and salazinic acid (9) has been determined through cyclic voltammetry. The compounds 1-4 presented slopes close to the Nernst constant of 0.059 V, indicating a 2H+/2e- relation between protons and electrons, as long as the compounds 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 present slopes between 0.037 V and 0.032 V, indicating a 1H+/2e- relation between protons and electrons. These results show a high free radical scavenging activity by means of the release of H+, suggesting an important antioxidant capacity of these molecules. Theoretical calculations of hydrogen bond dissociation enthalpies (BDE), proton affinities (PA), and Proton Transfer (PT) mechanisms, at M06-2x/6-311+G(d,p) level complement the experimental results. Computations support that the best antioxidant activity is obtained for the molecules (3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8), that have a carboxylic acid group close to a phenolic hydroxyl group, through hydrogen atomic transfer (HAT) and sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET) mechanisms. Additional computations were performed for modelling binding affinity of the lichen substances with CYPs enzymes, mainly CYP1A2, CYP51, and CYP2C9*2 isoforms, showing strong affinity for all the compounds described in this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osvaldo Yañez
- Facultad de Ingeniería y Negocios, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago, 7500000, Chile; Center of New Drugs for Hypertension (CENDHY), Santiago, 8380494, Chile
| | - Manuel I Osorio
- Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Av. República 330, Santiago, 8370146, Chile; Facultad de Medicina, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad Diego Portales, Ejército 141, Santiago, 837007, Chile
| | - Edison Osorio
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad de Ibagué, Carrera 22 Calle 67, Ibagué, 730002, Colombia
| | - William Tiznado
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Andrés Bello, Avenida República 275, Piso 3, Santiago, Chile
| | - Lina Ruíz
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Camilo García
- Universidad Católica de Temuco, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Químicas, Avenida Rudecindo Ortega, 02950, Campus San Juan Pablo II, Temuco, Chile
| | - Orlando Nagles
- Facultad de Química e Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Mario J Simirgiotis
- Instituto de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia, 5090000, Chile
| | - Grover Castañeta
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Carlos Areche
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
| | - Olimpo García-Beltrán
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad de Ibagué, Carrera 22 Calle 67, Ibagué, 730002, Colombia; Centro Integrativo de Biología y Química Aplicada (CIBQA), Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins, General Gana 1702, Santiago, 8370854, Chile.
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9
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Mangiatordi GF, Cavalluzzi MM, Delre P, Lamanna G, Lumuscio MC, Saviano M, Majoral JP, Mignani S, Duranti A, Lentini G. Endocannabinoid Degradation Enzyme Inhibitors as Potential Antipsychotics: A Medicinal Chemistry Perspective. Biomedicines 2023; 11:biomedicines11020469. [PMID: 36831006 PMCID: PMC9953700 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11020469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 01/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a very important role in numerous physiological and pharmacological processes, such as those related to the central nervous system (CNS), including learning, memory, emotional processing, as well pain control, inflammatory and immune response, and as a biomarker in certain psychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, the half-life of the natural ligands responsible for these effects is very short. This perspective describes the potential role of the inhibitors of the enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MGL), which are mainly responsible for the degradation of endogenous ligands in psychic disorders and related pathologies. The examination was carried out considering both the impact that the classical exogenous ligands such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and (-)-trans-cannabidiol (CBD) have on the ECS and through an analysis focused on the possibility of predicting the potential toxicity of the inhibitors before they are subjected to clinical studies. In particular, cardiotoxicity (hERG liability), probably the worst early adverse reaction studied during clinical studies focused on acute toxicity, was predicted, and some of the most used and robust metrics available were considered to select which of the analyzed compounds could be repositioned as possible oral antipsychotics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi
- Department of Pharmacy—Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
| | - Pietro Delre
- Institute of Crystallography, National Research Council of Italy, Via G. Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Lamanna
- Institute of Crystallography, National Research Council of Italy, Via G. Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy
- Department of Chemistry, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
| | - Maria Cristina Lumuscio
- Institute of Crystallography, National Research Council of Italy, Via G. Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Michele Saviano
- Institute of Crystallography, National Research Council of Italy, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Jean-Pierre Majoral
- Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS, 205 Route de Narbonne, CEDEX 4, 31077 Toulouse, France
- Université Toulouse, 118 Route de Narbonne, CEDEX 4, 31077 Toulouse, France
| | - Serge Mignani
- CERMN (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche sur le Médicament de Normandie), Université de Caen, 14032 Caen, France
- CQM—Centro de Química da Madeira, MMRG (Molecular Materials Research Group), Campus da Penteada, Universidade da Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
| | - Andrea Duranti
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Piazza del Rinascimento 6, 61029 Urbino, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0722-303501
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Department of Pharmacy—Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
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10
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Fatma I, Sharma V, Ahmad Malik N, Assad H, Cantero-López P, Sánchez J, López-Rendón R, Yañez O, Chand Thakur R, Kumar A. Influence of HSA on micellization of NLSS and BC: An experimental-theoretical approach of its binding characteristics. J Mol Liq 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2022.120532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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11
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Discovery of novel biphenyl-substituted pyridone derivatives as potent non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors with promising oral bioavailability. Eur J Med Chem 2022; 240:114581. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Revised: 06/26/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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12
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Ezeh M, Okonkwo OE, Okpoli IN, Orji CE, Modozie BU, Onyema AC, Ezebuo FC. Chemoinformatic Design and Profiling of Derivatives of Dasabuvir, Efavirenz, and Tipranavir as Potential Inhibitors of Zika Virus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase and Methyltransferase. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:33330-33348. [PMID: 36157724 PMCID: PMC9494688 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c03945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is one of the mosquito-borne flaviviruses of human importance with more than 2 million suspected cases and more than 1 million people infected in about 30 countries. There are reported inhibitors of the zika virus replication machinery, but no approved effective antiviral therapy including vaccines directed against the virus for treatment or prevention is currently available. The study investigated the chemoinformatic design and profiling of derivatives of dasabuvir, efavirenz, and tipranavir as potential inhibitors of the zika virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) and/or methyltransferase (MTase). The three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of dasabuvir, efavirenz, and tipranavir were obtained from the PubChem database, and their respective derivatives were designed with DataWarrior-5.2.1 using an evolutionary algorithm. Derivatives that were not mutagenic, tumorigenic, or irritant were selected; docked into RdRP and MTase; and further subjected to absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) evaluation with Swiss-ADME and pkCSM web tools. Some of the designed compounds are Lipinski's rule-of-five compliant, with good synthetic accessibilities. Compounds 20d, 21d, 22d, and 1e are nontoxic with the only limitation of CYP1A2, CYP2C19, and/or CYP2C9 inhibition. Replacements of -CH3 and -NH- in the methanesulfonamide moiety of dasabuvir with -OH and -CH2- or -CH2CH2-, respectively, improved the safety/toxicity profile. Hepatotoxicity in 5d, 4d, and 18d is likely due to -NH- in their methanesulfonamide/sulfamic acid moieties. These compounds are potent inhibitors of N-7 and 2'-methylation activities of ZIKV methyltransferase and/or RNA synthesis through interactions with amino acid residues in the priming loop/"N-pocket" in the virus RdRP. Synthesis of these compounds and wet laboratory validation against ZIKV are recommended.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeleine
I. Ezeh
- Department
of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra
State, Nigeria
| | - Onyinyechi E. Okonkwo
- Department
of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra
State, Nigeria
| | - Innocent N. Okpoli
- Department
of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra
State, Nigeria
- Drug
Design and Informatics Group, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra State, Nigeria
| | - Chima E. Orji
- Department
of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra State, Nigeria
| | - Benjamin U. Modozie
- Department
of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra
State, Nigeria
| | - Augustine C. Onyema
- Department
of Biochemistry, Graduate Center, City University
of New York (CUNY), New York, New York 10016, United States
| | - Fortunatus C. Ezebuo
- Department
of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra
State, Nigeria
- Drug
Design and Informatics Group, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka 420110, Anambra State, Nigeria
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13
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Forces Driving a Magic Bullet to Its Target: Revisiting the Role of Thermodynamics in Drug Design, Development, and Optimization. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:life12091438. [PMID: 36143474 PMCID: PMC9504344 DOI: 10.3390/life12091438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 09/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Drug discovery strategies have advanced significantly towards prioritizing target selectivity to achieve the longstanding goal of identifying “magic bullets” amongst thousands of chemical molecules screened for therapeutic efficacy. A myriad of emerging and existing health threats, including the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, alarming increase in bacterial resistance, and potentially fatal chronic ailments, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegeneration, have incentivized the discovery of novel therapeutics in treatment regimens. The design, development, and optimization of lead compounds represent an arduous and time-consuming process that necessitates the assessment of specific criteria and metrics derived via multidisciplinary approaches incorporating functional, structural, and energetic properties. The present review focuses on specific methodologies and technologies aimed at advancing drug development with particular emphasis on the role of thermodynamics in elucidating the underlying forces governing ligand–target interaction selectivity and specificity. In the pursuit of novel therapeutics, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) has been utilized extensively over the past two decades to bolster drug discovery efforts, yielding information-rich thermodynamic binding signatures. A wealth of studies recognizes the need for mining thermodynamic databases to critically examine and evaluate prospective drug candidates on the basis of available metrics. The ultimate power and utility of thermodynamics within drug discovery strategies reside in the characterization and comparison of intrinsic binding signatures that facilitate the elucidation of structural–energetic correlations which assist in lead compound identification and optimization to improve overall therapeutic efficacy.
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14
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Search for Novel Potent Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Papain-like Enzyme: A Computational Biochemistry Approach. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2022; 15:ph15080986. [PMID: 36015134 PMCID: PMC9414997 DOI: 10.3390/ph15080986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The rapid emergence and spread of new variants of coronavirus type 2, as well as the emergence of zoonotic viruses, highlights the need for methodologies that contribute to the search for new pharmacological treatments. In the present work, we searched for new SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease inhibitors in the PubChem database, which has more than 100 million compounds. Based on the ligand efficacy index obtained by molecular docking, 500 compounds with higher affinity than another experimentally tested inhibitor were selected. Finally, the seven compounds with ADME parameters within the acceptable range for such a drug were selected. Next, molecular dynamics simulation studies at 200 ns, ΔG calculations using molecular mechanics with generalized Born and surface solvation, and quantum mechanical calculations were performed with the selected compounds. Using this in silico protocol, seven papain-like protease inhibitors are proposed: three compounds with similar free energy (D28, D04, and D59) and three compounds with higher binding free energy (D60, D99, and D06) than the experimentally tested inhibitor, plus one compound (D24) that could bind to the ubiquitin-binding region and reduce the effect on the host immune system. The proposed compounds could be used in in vitro assays, and the described protocol could be used for smart drug design.
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15
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Minchán-Herrera P, Ybañez-Julca RO, Quispe-Díaz IM, Venegas-Casanova EA, Jara-Aguilar R, Salas F, Zevallos-Escobar L, Yáñez O, Pino-Rios R, Calderon PB, Benites J. Valeriana pilosa Roots Essential Oil: Chemical Composition, Antioxidant Activities, and Molecular Docking Studies on Enzymes Involved in Redox Biological Processes. Antioxidants (Basel) 2022; 11:antiox11071337. [PMID: 35883828 PMCID: PMC9311991 DOI: 10.3390/antiox11071337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Valeriana pilosa is usually employed in Peruvian folk medicine in the form of infusion to treat stomach pain, and has antispasmodic, relaxing, sleep-promoting, and sedative properties, as well as is an anti-inflammatory. In this study, Valeriana pilosa essential oil (VPEO) was obtained by hydrodistillation, analyzed by GC and GC/MS, and 47 compounds were identified. Major oil components were α-patchoulene (5.8%), α-humulene (6.1%), seychellene (7.6%), and patchoulol (20.8%). Furthermore, we assessed the in vitro antioxidant activities, molecular docking, and Ligand Efficiency studies on enzymes involved in cellular redox pathways such as CYP2C9, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and xanthine oxidase. Essential oil antioxidant activities were assessed by FRAP, ABTS•+, and DPPH• radical scavenging activity. VPEO displays high antioxidant activity as compared to essential oils of Valeriana jatamansi and Valeriana officinalis oil roots. In addition, molecular docking and ADMET prediction was employed to compare the absorption, metabolism, and toxicity properties of Valeriana pilosa compounds. In the molecular docking studies, limonene, p-cimene, carvone, α-cubebene, cyclosativene, α-guaiene, allo-aromadendrene, valencene, and eremophyllene were the compounds with the best docking score on CYP2C9 and xanthine oxidase. Thus, volatile components of Valeriana pilosa could be associated with the detected antioxidant activity, acting as putative inhibitors of CYP2C9 and xanthine oxidase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Minchán-Herrera
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo 13011, Peru; (P.M.-H.); (I.M.Q.-D.); (E.A.V.-C.); (R.J.-A.)
| | - Roberto O. Ybañez-Julca
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo 13011, Peru; (P.M.-H.); (I.M.Q.-D.); (E.A.V.-C.); (R.J.-A.)
- Correspondence: (R.O.Y.-J.); (J.B.); Tel.: +51-0449-7634-5993 (R.O.Y.-J.); +56-57-2252-6275 (J.B.)
| | - Ivan M. Quispe-Díaz
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo 13011, Peru; (P.M.-H.); (I.M.Q.-D.); (E.A.V.-C.); (R.J.-A.)
| | - Edmundo A. Venegas-Casanova
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo 13011, Peru; (P.M.-H.); (I.M.Q.-D.); (E.A.V.-C.); (R.J.-A.)
| | - Rafael Jara-Aguilar
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo 13011, Peru; (P.M.-H.); (I.M.Q.-D.); (E.A.V.-C.); (R.J.-A.)
| | - Felipe Salas
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile; (F.S.); (P.B.C.)
| | - Liz Zevallos-Escobar
- Escuela de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad Católica Los Ángeles de Chimbote, Chimbote 02801, Peru;
| | - Osvaldo Yáñez
- Facultad de Ingeniería y Negocios, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago 7500000, Chile;
| | - Ricardo Pino-Rios
- Instituto de Ciencias Químicas Aplicadas, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago 7500912, Chile;
| | - Pedro Buc Calderon
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile; (F.S.); (P.B.C.)
- Research Group in Metabolism and Nutrition, Louvain Drug Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, 73 Avenue E. Mounier, GTOX 7309, 1200 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Julio Benites
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo 13011, Peru; (P.M.-H.); (I.M.Q.-D.); (E.A.V.-C.); (R.J.-A.)
- Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Casilla 121, Iquique 1100000, Chile; (F.S.); (P.B.C.)
- Correspondence: (R.O.Y.-J.); (J.B.); Tel.: +51-0449-7634-5993 (R.O.Y.-J.); +56-57-2252-6275 (J.B.)
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16
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Jin X, Zhao LM, Wang S, Huang WJ, Zhang YX, Pannecouque C, De Clercq E, Chen FE. Structure-Based Discovery of Novel NH 2-Biphenyl-Diarylpyrimidines as Potent Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors with Significantly Improved Safety: From NH 2-Naphthyl-Diarylpyrimidine to NH 2-Biphenyl-Diarylpyrimidine. J Med Chem 2022; 65:8478-8492. [PMID: 35649164 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Results from recently completed studies suggested that the NH2-naphthyl-diarylpyrimidine JX-7 displayed remarkable inhibitory activity against wild-type HIV-1 (EC50 = 5 nM) and numerous clinically observed variants in MT-4 cells; however, its high cytotoxicity (CC50 = 19 μM) precluded its further development as a clinical candidate. One approach we took to improve the safety involved replacing the naphthyl of JX-7 with biphenyl to provide a series of novel NH2-biphenyl-DAPYs. Investigation of the structure-activity relationships (SARs) led to the identification of 4ab, a potent NNRTI with significantly reduced cytotoxicity (CC50 = 120 μM), approximately 6-fold lower than JX-7, which maintained remarkable anti-HIV-1 activity against wild-type HIV-1 (EC50 = 1.9 nM) and multiple mutant strains simultaneously. Also, 4ab displayed weak CYP sensitivity, little inhibition of hERG, and no apparent in vivo acute toxicity. These promising results demonstrate that 4ab can be used as a drug candidate for HIV-1 therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Jin
- Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.,Shanghai Engineering Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis for Chiral Drugs, Shanghai 200433, China.,Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines of the Changbai Mountain, Ministry of Education, Yanbian University, Yanji 133002, P. R. China
| | - Li-Min Zhao
- Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.,Shanghai Engineering Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis for Chiral Drugs, Shanghai 200433, China.,Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines of the Changbai Mountain, Ministry of Education, Yanbian University, Yanji 133002, P. R. China
| | - Shuai Wang
- Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.,Shanghai Engineering Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis for Chiral Drugs, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Wen-Juan Huang
- Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.,Shanghai Engineering Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis for Chiral Drugs, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Yin-Xiang Zhang
- Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.,Shanghai Engineering Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis for Chiral Drugs, Shanghai 200433, China
| | | | - Erik De Clercq
- Rega Institute for Medical Research, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Fen-Er Chen
- Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.,Shanghai Engineering Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis for Chiral Drugs, Shanghai 200433, China.,Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines of the Changbai Mountain, Ministry of Education, Yanbian University, Yanji 133002, P. R. China
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17
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Shulga DA, Ivanov NN, Palyulin VA. In Silico Structure-Based Approach for Group Efficiency Estimation in Fragment-Based Drug Design Using Evaluation of Fragment Contributions. Molecules 2022; 27:molecules27061985. [PMID: 35335347 PMCID: PMC8951103 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27061985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The notion of a contribution of a specific group in an organic molecule’s property and/or activity is both common in our thinking and is still not strictly correct due to the inherent non-additivity of free energy with respect to molecular fragments composing a molecule. The fragment- based drug discovery (FBDD) approach has proven to be fruitful in addressing the above notions. The main difficulty of the FBDD, however, is in its reliance on the low throughput and expensive experimental means of determining the fragment-sized molecules binding. In this article we propose a way to enhance the throughput and availability of the FBDD methods by judiciously using an in silico means of assessing the contribution to ligand-receptor binding energy of fragments of a molecule under question using a previously developed in silico Reverse Fragment Based Drug Discovery (R-FBDD) approach. It has been shown that the proposed structure-based drug discovery (SBDD) type of approach fills in the vacant niche among the existing in silico approaches, which mainly stem from the ligand-based drug discovery (LBDD) counterparts. In order to illustrate the applicability of the approach, our work retrospectively repeats the findings of the use case of an FBDD hit-to-lead project devoted to the experimentally based determination of additive group efficiency (GE)—an analog of ligand efficiency (LE) for a group in the molecule—using the Free-Wilson (FW) decomposition. It is shown that in using our in silico approach to evaluate fragment contributions of a ligand and to estimate GE one can arrive at similar decisions as those made using the experimentally determined activity-based FW decomposition. It is also shown that the approach is rather robust to the choice of the scoring function, provided the latter demonstrates a decent scoring power. We argue that the proposed approach of in silico assessment of GE has a wider applicability domain and expect that it will be widely applicable to enhance the net throughput of drug discovery based on the FBDD paradigm.
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18
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Aldoxime- and hydroxy-functionalized chalcones as highly potent and selective monoamine oxidase-B inhibitors. J Mol Struct 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molstruc.2021.131817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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19
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Andrianov GV, Ong WJG, Serebriiskii I, Karanicolas J. Efficient Hit-to-Lead Searching of Kinase Inhibitor Chemical Space via Computational Fragment Merging. J Chem Inf Model 2021; 61:5967-5987. [PMID: 34762402 PMCID: PMC8865965 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c00630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
In early-stage drug discovery, the hit-to-lead optimization (or "hit expansion") stage entails starting from a newly identified active compound and improving its potency or other properties. Traditionally, this process relies on synthesizing and evaluating a series of analogues to build up structure-activity relationships. Here, we describe a computational strategy focused on kinase inhibitors, intended to expedite the process of identifying analogues with improved potency. Our protocol begins from an inhibitor of the target kinase and generalizes the synthetic route used to access it. By searching for commercially available replacements for the individual building blocks used to make the parent inhibitor, we compile an enumerated library of compounds that can be accessed using the same chemical transformations; these huge libraries can exceed many millions─or billions─of compounds. Because the resulting libraries are much too large for explicit virtual screening, we instead consider alternate approaches to identify the top-scoring compounds. We find that contributions from individual substituents are well described by a pairwise additivity approximation, provided that the corresponding fragments position their shared core in precisely the same way relative to the binding site. This key insight allows us to determine which fragments are suitable for merging into single new compounds and which are not. Further, the use of pairwise approximation allows interaction energies to be assigned to each compound in the library without the need for any further structure-based modeling: interaction energies instead can be reliably estimated from the energies of the component fragments, and the reduced computational requirements allow for flexible energy minimizations that allow the kinase to respond to each substitution. We demonstrate this protocol using libraries built from six representative kinase inhibitors drawn from the literature, which target five different kinases: CDK9, CHK1, CDK2, EGFRT790M, and ACK1. In each example, the enumerated library includes additional analogues reported by the original study to have activity, and these analogues are successfully prioritized within the library. We envision that the insights from this work can facilitate the rapid assembly and screening of increasingly large libraries for focused hit-to-lead optimization. To enable adoption of these methods and to encourage further analyses, we disseminate the computational tools needed to deploy this protocol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grigorii V. Andrianov
- Program in Molecular Therapeutics, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111-2497,Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia, 420008
| | - Wern Juin Gabriel Ong
- Program in Molecular Therapeutics, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111-2497,Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011
| | - Ilya Serebriiskii
- Program in Molecular Therapeutics, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111-2497,Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia, 420008
| | - John Karanicolas
- Program in Molecular Therapeutics, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111-2497,To whom correspondence should be addressed. , 215-728-7067
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20
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Computational Study on Potential Novel Anti-Ebola Virus Protein VP35 Natural Compounds. Biomedicines 2021; 9:biomedicines9121796. [PMID: 34944612 PMCID: PMC8698941 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9121796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 10/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ebola virus (EBOV) is one of the most lethal pathogens that can infect humans. The Ebola viral protein VP35 (EBOV VP35) inhibits host IFN-α/β production by interfering with host immune responses to viral invasion and is thus considered as a plausible drug target. The aim of this study was to identify potential novel lead compounds against EBOV VP35 using computational techniques in drug discovery. The 3D structure of the EBOV VP35 with PDB ID: 3FKE was used for molecular docking studies. An integrated library of 7675 African natural product was pre-filtered using ADMET risk, with a threshold of 7 and, as a result, 1470 ligands were obtained for the downstream molecular docking using AutoDock Vina, after an energy minimization of the protein via GROMACS. Five known inhibitors, namely, amodiaquine, chloroquine, gossypetin, taxifolin and EGCG were used as standard control compounds for this study. The area under the curve (AUC) value, evaluating the docking protocol obtained from the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, generated was 0.72, which was considered to be acceptable. The four identified potential lead compounds of NANPDB4048, NANPDB2412, ZINC000095486250 and NANPDB2476 had binding affinities of −8.2, −8.2, −8.1 and −8.0 kcal/mol, respectively, and were predicted to possess desirable antiviral activity including the inhibition of RNA synthesis and membrane permeability, with the probable activity (Pa) being greater than the probable inactivity (Pi) values. The predicted anti-EBOV inhibition efficiency values (IC50), found using a random forest classifier, ranged from 3.35 to 11.99 μM, while the Ki values ranged from 0.97 to 1.37 μM. The compounds NANPDB4048 and NANPDB2412 had the lowest binding energy of −8.2 kcal/mol, implying a higher binding affinity to EBOV VP35 which was greater than those of the known inhibitors. The compounds were predicted to possess a low toxicity risk and to possess reasonably good pharmacological profiles. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the protein–ligand complexes, lasting 50 ns, and molecular mechanisms Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM-PBSA) calculations corroborated the binding affinities of the identified compounds and identified novel critical interacting residues. The antiviral potential of the molecules could be confirmed experimentally, while the scaffolds could be optimized for the design of future novel anti-EBOV chemotherapeutics.
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21
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Gonçalves AC, Flores-Félix JD, Costa AR, Falcão A, Alves G, Silva LR. Hepatoprotective Effects of Sweet Cherry Extracts (cv. Saco). Foods 2021; 10:foods10112623. [PMID: 34828905 PMCID: PMC8621173 DOI: 10.3390/foods10112623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Revised: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer is the second cause of death worldwide. Among cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most prevalent. Evidence indicates that the daily consumption of fruits and vegetables can prevent the onset of various cancers due to the presence of bioactive compounds. Sweet cherries are known for their richness in phenolics, including anthocyanins, which are the major constituents, and presumably, the key contributors to their biological activity. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of three different cherry fractions on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells viability and effectiveness to improve the redox status of these cells under oxidative damage induced by nitric oxide radicals and hydrogen peroxide. Phenolic characterization of fractions was performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The obtained results indicated that enriched phenolic fractions of sweet cherries (cv. Saco, can impair cell viability and suppress cells growth after 72 h of exposure, promoting necrosis at the highest tested concentrations (>50 µg/mL). Additionally, fractions also showed the capacity to protect these cells against oxidative injury by capturing radicals before they can attack cells’ membrane and by modulating reactive oxygen and nitrogen species generation, as demonstrated by bioinformatic tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana C. Gonçalves
- CICS–UBI—Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201-506 Covilhã, Portugal; (A.C.G.); (J.D.F.-F.); (A.R.C.); (G.A.)
- CIBIT—Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal;
| | - José D. Flores-Félix
- CICS–UBI—Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201-506 Covilhã, Portugal; (A.C.G.); (J.D.F.-F.); (A.R.C.); (G.A.)
| | - Ana R. Costa
- CICS–UBI—Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201-506 Covilhã, Portugal; (A.C.G.); (J.D.F.-F.); (A.R.C.); (G.A.)
| | - Amílcar Falcão
- CIBIT—Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal;
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Gilberto Alves
- CICS–UBI—Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201-506 Covilhã, Portugal; (A.C.G.); (J.D.F.-F.); (A.R.C.); (G.A.)
| | - Luís R. Silva
- CICS–UBI—Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201-506 Covilhã, Portugal; (A.C.G.); (J.D.F.-F.); (A.R.C.); (G.A.)
- CPIRN-UDI/IPG—Centro de Potencial e Inovação em Recursos Naturais, Unidade de Investigação para o Desenvolvimento do Interior do Instituto Politécnico da Guarda, 6300-559 Guarda, Portugal
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +351-275-329-077
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22
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Wang Z, Zalloum WA, Wang W, Jiang X, De Clercq E, Pannecouque C, Kang D, Zhan P, Liu X. Discovery of Novel Dihydrothiopyrano[4,3- d]pyrimidine Derivatives as Potent HIV-1 NNRTIs with Significantly Reduced hERG Inhibitory Activity and Improved Resistance Profiles. J Med Chem 2021; 64:13658-13675. [PMID: 34432448 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Enlightened by the available structural biology information, a novel series of dihydrothiopyrano[4,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives were rationally designed via scaffold hopping and molecular hybridization strategies. Notably, compound 20a yielded exceptionally potent antiviral activities (EC50 = 4.44-54.5 nM) against various HIV-1 strains and improved resistance profiles (RF = 0.5-5.6) compared to etravirine and rilpivirine. Meanwhile, 20a exhibited reduced cytotoxicity (CC50 = 284 μM) and higher SI values (SI = 5210-63992). Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to rationalize the distinct resistance profiles. Besides, 20a displayed better solubility (sol. = 12.8 μg/mL) and no significant inhibition of the main CYP enzymes. Furthermore, 20a was characterized for prominent metabolic stability and in vivo safety properties. Most importantly, the hERG inhibition profile of 20a (IC50 = 19.84 μM) was a remarkable improvement. Overall, 20a possesses huge potential to serve as a promising drug candidate due to its excellent potency, low toxicity, and favorable drug-like properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhao Wang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
| | - Waleed A Zalloum
- Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Science, American University of Madaba, P.O. Box 2882, Amman 11821, Jordan
| | - Wenbo Wang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
| | - Xiangyi Jiang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
| | - Erik De Clercq
- Rega Institute for Medical Research, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, K. U. Leuven, Herestraat 49 Postbus 1043 (09.A097), Leuven B-3000, Belgium
| | - Christophe Pannecouque
- Rega Institute for Medical Research, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, K. U. Leuven, Herestraat 49 Postbus 1043 (09.A097), Leuven B-3000, Belgium
| | - Dongwei Kang
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
- China-Belgium Collaborative Research Center for Innovative Antiviral Drugs of Shandong Province, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
| | - Peng Zhan
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
- China-Belgium Collaborative Research Center for Innovative Antiviral Drugs of Shandong Province, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
| | - Xinyong Liu
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
- China-Belgium Collaborative Research Center for Innovative Antiviral Drugs of Shandong Province, 44 West Culture Road, Jinan, Shandong 250012, PR China
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23
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Milani G, Cavalluzzi MM, Altamura C, Santoro A, Perrone M, Muraglia M, Colabufo NA, Corbo F, Casalino E, Franchini C, Pisano I, Desaphy J, Carrieri A, Carocci A, Lentini G. Bioisosteric Modification of To042: Synthesis and Evaluation of Promising Use-Dependent Inhibitors of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels. ChemMedChem 2021; 16:3588-3599. [PMID: 34519427 PMCID: PMC9293070 DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202100496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2021] [Revised: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Three analogues of To042, a tocainide-related lead compound recently reported for the treatment of myotonia, were synthesized and evaluated in vitro as skeletal muscle sodium channel blockers possibly endowed with enhanced use-dependent behavior. Patch-clamp experiments on hNav1.4 expressed in HEK293 cells showed that N-[(naphthalen-1-yl)methyl]-4-[(2,6-dimethyl)phenoxy]butan-2-amine, the aryloxyalkyl bioisostere of To042, exerted a higher use-dependent block than To042 thus being able to preferentially block the channels in over-excited membranes while preserving healthy tissue function. It also showed the lowest active transport across BBB according to the results of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) interacting activity evaluation and the highest cytoprotective effect on HeLa cells. Quantum mechanical calculations and dockings gave insights on the most probable conformation of the aryloxyalkyl bioisostere of To042 in solution and the target residues involved in the binding, respectively. Both approaches indicated the conformations that might be adopted in both the unbound and bound state of the ligand. Overall, N-[(naphthalen-1-yl)methyl]-4-[(2,6-dimethyl)phenoxy]butan-2-amine exhibits an interesting toxico-pharmacological profile and deserves further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gualtiero Milani
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Concetta Altamura
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human OncologySchool of MedicineUniversity of Bari Aldo Moro PoliclinicoPiazza Giulio Cesare70124BariItaly
| | - Antonella Santoro
- Department of Bioscience, Biotechnology and BiopharmaceuticsUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Mariagrazia Perrone
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Marilena Muraglia
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Nicola Antonio Colabufo
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Filomena Corbo
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Elisabetta Casalino
- Department of Veterinary MedicineUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Carlo Franchini
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Isabella Pisano
- Department of Bioscience, Biotechnology and BiopharmaceuticsUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Jean‐François Desaphy
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human OncologySchool of MedicineUniversity of Bari Aldo Moro PoliclinicoPiazza Giulio Cesare70124BariItaly
| | - Antonio Carrieri
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Alessia Carocci
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Department of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Bari Aldo MoroVia E. Orabona 470125BariItaly
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24
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Anil D, Caykoylu EU, Sanli F, Gambacorta N, Karatas OF, Nicolotti O, Algul O, Burmaoglu S. Synthesis and biological evaluation of 3,5-diaryl-pyrazole derivatives as potential antiprostate cancer agents. Arch Pharm (Weinheim) 2021; 354:e2100225. [PMID: 34467575 DOI: 10.1002/ardp.202100225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed tumor in men and the second leading cause of cancer-associated mortality in most developed countries. 3,5-Diaryl substituted pyrazole derivatives (20-28) were prepared starting from related chalcones and biologically evaluated for in vitro growth inhibition activity against PC3 and DU145 human prostate cancer cell lines. Compounds 23, 26, and 28 were found to be more potent as compared to the other halogen-substituted derivatives. Especially, the 2-bromo-substituted pyrazole derivative (26) was found to be more potent against PC3 and DU145 cells. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) are known to be expressed in DU145 and PC3 cancer cells. The binding mode of the most selective compound 26 toward EGFR and VEGFR2 was investigated by employing docking simulations based on GLIDE standard precision (-5.912 and -6.949 kcal/mol, respectively).
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Affiliation(s)
- Derya Anil
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Process Technologies, Erzurum Technical Science Vocational School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey
| | - Emine U Caykoylu
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey
| | - Fatma Sanli
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Erzurum Technical University, Erzurum, Turkey.,Molecular Cancer Biology Laboratory, High Technology Application and Research Center, Erzurum Technical University, Erzurum, Turkey
| | - Nicola Gambacorta
- Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari, Italy
| | - Omer F Karatas
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Erzurum Technical University, Erzurum, Turkey.,Molecular Cancer Biology Laboratory, High Technology Application and Research Center, Erzurum Technical University, Erzurum, Turkey
| | - Orazio Nicolotti
- Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari, Italy
| | - Oztekin Algul
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey.,Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Erzincan Binali Yildirim University, Erzincan, Turkey
| | - Serdar Burmaoglu
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey
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25
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Petrillo G, Tavani C, Bianchi L, Benzi A, Cavalluzzi MM, Salvagno L, Quintieri L, De Palma A, Caputo L, Rosato A, Lentini G. Densely Functionalized 2-Methylideneazetidines: Evaluation as Antibacterials. Molecules 2021; 26:3891. [PMID: 34202191 PMCID: PMC8271477 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26133891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Twenty-two novel, variously substituted nitroazetidines were designed as both sulfonamide and urethane vinylogs possibly endowed with antimicrobial activity. The compounds under study were obtained following a general procedure recently developed, starting from 4-nitropentadienoates deriving from a common β-nitrothiophenic precursor. While being devoid of any activity against fungi and Gram-negative bacteria, most of the title compounds performed as potent antibacterial agents on Gram-positive bacteria (E. faecalis and three strains of S. aureus), with the most potent congener being the 1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-3-nitro-4-(p-tolyl)azetidine 22, which displayed potency close to that of norfloxacin, the reference antibiotic (minimum inhibitory concentration values 4 and 1-2 μg/mL, respectively). Since 22 combines a relatively efficient activity against Gram-positive bacteria and a cytotoxicity on eucharyotic cells only at 4-times higher concentrations (inhibiting concentration on 50% of the cultured eukaryotic cells: 36 ± 10 μM, MIC: 8.6 μM), it may be considered as a promising hit compound for the development of a new series of antibacterials selectively active on Gram-positive pathogens. The relatively concise synthetic route described herein, based on widely available starting materials, could feed further structure-activity relationship studies, thus allowing for the fine investigation and optimization of the toxico-pharmacological profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Petrillo
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (C.T.); (L.B.); (A.B.)
| | - Cinzia Tavani
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (C.T.); (L.B.); (A.B.)
| | - Lara Bianchi
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (C.T.); (L.B.); (A.B.)
| | - Alice Benzi
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (C.T.); (L.B.); (A.B.)
| | - Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (M.M.C.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (G.L.)
| | - Lara Salvagno
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (M.M.C.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (G.L.)
| | - Laura Quintieri
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research, Via G. Amendola, 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy; (L.Q.); (L.C.)
| | - Annalisa De Palma
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies, and Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy;
| | - Leonardo Caputo
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research, Via G. Amendola, 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy; (L.Q.); (L.C.)
| | - Antonio Rosato
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (M.M.C.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (G.L.)
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (M.M.C.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (G.L.)
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26
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Brindisi M, Frattaruolo L, Mancuso R, Palumbo Piccionello A, Ziccarelli I, Catto M, Nicolotti O, Altomare CD, Gabriele B, Cappello AR. Anticancer potential of novel α,β-unsaturated γ-lactam derivatives targeting the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Biochem Pharmacol 2021; 190:114659. [PMID: 34147489 DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2021.114659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Six recently synthesized alkyl (Z)-2-(2-oxopyrrolidin-3-ylidene)acetates were evaluated for their potential as cytotoxic and anticancer agents. All compounds were tested in the ERα positive MCF-7, triple negative MDA-MB-231, and Her2+ SKBR-3 breast cancer cell lines. The most lipophilic derivatives, bearing the 4-isopropylphenyl (2) or 4-tert-butylphenyl (3) group at the γ-lactam nitrogen, proved to be cytotoxic against all the cancer cell lines tested (IC50 values ranging from 18 to 63 μM), exerting their greatest activity in SKBR-3 cells, with IC50 values of 33 and 18 μM, respectively. Biological studies showed that the cytotoxic effects of 2 and 3 are accompanied by apoptotic death in breast cancer cells, and both compounds showed no significant toxicity on healthy cells (e.g., MCF-10A) and red blood cells. An in-depth mechanistic study based on molecular biology, immunoblotting analysis and in silico docking calculations suggested that α,β-unsaturated γ-lactam derivatives could interfere with the functioning of PI3K and PDK-1, two key enzymes in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, whose overactivation is related to the regulation of cell growth and survival in several malignancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Brindisi
- Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Luca Frattaruolo
- Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Raffaella Mancuso
- Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci 12/C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Antonio Palumbo Piccionello
- Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology-STEBICEF, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Ed.17, Palermo 90128, Italy
| | - Ida Ziccarelli
- Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci 12/C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Marco Catto
- Department of Pharmacy-Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Orazio Nicolotti
- Department of Pharmacy-Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Cosimo D Altomare
- Department of Pharmacy-Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70126 Bari, Italy.
| | - Bartolo Gabriele
- Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci 12/C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Anna Rita Cappello
- Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy.
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27
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Gnocchi D, Cavalluzzi MM, Mangiatordi GF, Rizzi R, Tortorella C, Spennacchio M, Lentini G, Altomare A, Sabbà C, Mazzocca A. Xanthenylacetic Acid Derivatives Effectively Target Lysophosphatidic Acid Receptor 6 to Inhibit Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Growth. ChemMedChem 2021; 16:2121-2129. [PMID: 33831272 DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202100032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Revised: 04/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Despite the increasing incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide, current pharmacological treatments are still unsatisfactory. We have previously shown that lysophosphatidic acid receptor 6 (LPAR6) supports HCC growth and that 9-xanthenylacetic acid (XAA) acts as an LPAR6 antagonist inhibiting HCC growth without toxicity. Here, we synthesized four novel XAA derivatives, (±)-2-(9H-xanthen-9-yl)propanoic acid (compound 4 - MC9), (±)-2-(9H-xanthen-9-yl)butanoic acid (compound 5 - MC6), (±)-2-(9H-xanthen-9-yl)hexanoic acid (compound 7 - MC11), and (±)-2-(9H-xanthen-9-yl)octanoic acid (compound 8 - MC12, sodium salt) by introducing alkyl groups of increasing length at the acetic α-carbon atom. Two of these compounds were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and quantum mechanical calculations, while molecular docking simulations suggested their enantioselectivity for LPAR6. Biological data showed anti-HCC activity for all XAA derivatives, with the maximum effect observed for MC11. Our findings support the view that increasing the length of the alkyl group improves the inhibitory action of XAA and that enantioselectivity can be exploited for designing novel and more effective XAA-based LPAR6 antagonists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davide Gnocchi
- Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari, School of Medicine, Piazza G. Cesare, 11, 70124, Bari, Italy
| | - Maria M Cavalluzzi
- Department of Pharmacy - Drug Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via Orabona, 4, 70125, Bari, Italy
| | | | - Rosanna Rizzi
- Institute of Crystallography CNR, Via Amendola 122/o, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Cosimo Tortorella
- Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari, School of Medicine, Piazza G. Cesare, 11, 70124, Bari, Italy
| | - Mauro Spennacchio
- Department of Pharmacy - Drug Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via Orabona, 4, 70125, Bari, Italy.,Institute of Crystallography CNR, Via Amendola 122/o, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Department of Pharmacy - Drug Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via Orabona, 4, 70125, Bari, Italy
| | - Angela Altomare
- Institute of Crystallography CNR, Via Amendola 122/o, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Carlo Sabbà
- Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari, School of Medicine, Piazza G. Cesare, 11, 70124, Bari, Italy
| | - Antonio Mazzocca
- Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari, School of Medicine, Piazza G. Cesare, 11, 70124, Bari, Italy
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Yañez O, Osorio MI, Areche C, Vasquez-Espinal A, Bravo J, Sandoval-Aldana A, Pérez-Donoso JM, González-Nilo F, Matos MJ, Osorio E, García-Beltrán O, Tiznado W. Theobroma cacao L. compounds: Theoretical study and molecular modeling as inhibitors of main SARS-CoV-2 protease. Biomed Pharmacother 2021; 140:111764. [PMID: 34051617 PMCID: PMC8141698 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Cocoa beans contain antioxidant molecules with the potential to inhibit type 2 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes a severe acute respiratory syndrome (COVID-19). In particular, protease. Therefore, using in silico tests, 30 molecules obtained from cocoa were evaluated. Using molecular docking and quantum mechanics calculations, the chemical properties and binding efficiency of each ligand was evaluated, which allowed the selection of 5 compounds of this series. The ability of amentoflavone, isorhoifolin, nicotiflorin, naringin and rutin to bind to the main viral protease was studied by means of free energy calculations and structural analysis performed from molecular dynamics simulations of the enzyme/inhibitor complex. Isorhoifolin and rutin stand out, presenting a more negative binding ΔG than the reference inhibitor N-[(5-methylisoxazol-3-yl)carbonyl]alanyl-l-valyl-N~1~-((1R,2Z)−4-(benzyloxy)−4-oxo-1-{[(3R)−2-oxopyrrolidin-3-yl]methyl}but-2-enyl)-L-leucinamide (N3). These results are consistent with high affinities of these molecules for the major SARS-CoV-2. The results presented in this paper are a solid starting point for future in vitro and in vivo experiments aiming to validate these molecules and /or test similar substances as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 protease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osvaldo Yañez
- Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, República 498, Santiago, Chile; Center of New Drugs for Hypertension (CENDHY), Santiago, Chile; Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Manuel Isaías Osorio
- Facultad de Medicina, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad Diego Portales, Ejército 141, Santiago 837007, Chile; Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Av. República 330, Santiago 8370146, Chile
| | - Carlos Areche
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Nuñoa, Santiago 7800024, Chile
| | - Alejandro Vasquez-Espinal
- Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, República 498, Santiago, Chile
| | - Jessica Bravo
- Facultad de Medicina, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad Diego Portales, Ejército 141, Santiago 837007, Chile
| | - Angélica Sandoval-Aldana
- Grupo Interdisciplinario de Investigación en Fruticultura Tropical, Facultad de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad del Tolima, Ibagué 730006, Colombia
| | - José M Pérez-Donoso
- Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Av. República 330, Santiago 8370146, Chile
| | - Fernando González-Nilo
- Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Av. República 330, Santiago 8370146, Chile
| | - Maria João Matos
- CIQUP/Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Edison Osorio
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad de Ibagué, Carrera 22 calle 67, Ibagué 730002, Colombia
| | - Olimpo García-Beltrán
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad de Ibagué, Carrera 22 calle 67, Ibagué 730002, Colombia; Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins, Centro Integrativo de Biología y Química Aplicada (CIBQA), General Gana 1702, Santiago, Chile, 8370854.
| | - William Tiznado
- Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, República 498, Santiago, Chile.
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Moya-Alvarado G, Yañez O, Morales N, González-González A, Areche C, Núñez MT, Fierro A, García-Beltrán O. Coumarin-Chalcone Hybrids as Inhibitors of MAO-B: Biological Activity and In Silico Studies. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26092430. [PMID: 33921982 PMCID: PMC8122463 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26092430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 04/17/2021] [Accepted: 04/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Fourteen coumarin-derived compounds modified at the C3 carbon of coumarin with an α,β-unsaturated ketone were synthesized. These compounds may be designated as chalcocoumarins (3-cinnamoyl-2H-chromen-2-ones). Both chalcones and coumarins are recognized scaffolds in medicinal chemistry, showing diverse biological and pharmacological properties among which neuroprotective activities and multiple enzyme inhibition, including mitochondrial enzyme systems, stand out. The evaluation of monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) inhibitors has aroused considerable interest as therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. Of the fourteen chalcocumarins evaluated here against MAO-B, ChC4 showed the strongest activity in vitro, with IC50 = 0.76 ± 0.08 µM. Computational docking, molecular dynamics and MM/GBSA studies, confirm that ChC4 binds very stably to the active rMAO-B site, explaining the experimental inhibition data.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Osvaldo Yañez
- Center of New Drugs for Hypertension (CENDHY), Santiago 8330015, Chile;
- Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, República 498, Santiago 7550196, Chile
| | - Nicole Morales
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile;
| | - Angélica González-González
- Laboratorio de Interacciones Insecto-Planta, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca 3460000, Chile;
| | - Carlos Areche
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Nuñoa, Santiago 7800024, Chile;
| | - Marco Tulio Núñez
- Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7800024, Chile;
| | - Angélica Fierro
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 6094411, Chile
- Correspondence: (A.F.); (O.G.-B.)
| | - Olimpo García-Beltrán
- Centro Integrativo de Biología y Química Aplicada (CIBQA), Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins, General Gana 1702, Santiago 8370854, Chile
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad de Ibagué, Carrera 22 Calle 67, Ibagué 730002, Colombia
- Correspondence: (A.F.); (O.G.-B.)
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Milani G, Cavalluzzi MM, Solidoro R, Salvagno L, Quintieri L, Di Somma A, Rosato A, Corbo F, Franchini C, Duilio A, Caputo L, Habtemariam S, Lentini G. Molecular Simplification of Natural Products: Synthesis, Antibacterial Activity, and Molecular Docking Studies of Berberine Open Models. Biomedicines 2021; 9:452. [PMID: 33922200 PMCID: PMC8146520 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9050452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Berberine, the main bioactive component of many medicinal plants belonging to various genera such as Berberis, Coptis, and Hydrastis is a multifunctional compound. Among the numerous interesting biological properties of berberine is broad antimicrobial activity including a range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. With the aim of identifying berberine analogues possibly endowed with higher lead-likeness and easier synthetic access, the molecular simplification approach was applied to the secondary metabolite and a series of analogues were prepared and screened for their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial test species. Rewardingly, the berberine simplified analogues displayed 2-20-fold higher potency with respect to berberine. Since our berberine simplified analogues may be easily synthesized and are characterized by lower molecular weight than the parent compound, they are further functionalizable and should be more suitable for oral administration. Molecular docking simulations suggested FtsZ, a well-known protein involved in bacterial cell division, as a possible target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gualtiero Milani
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
| | - Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
| | - Roberta Solidoro
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
| | - Lara Salvagno
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
| | - Laura Quintieri
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research, Via G. Amendola, 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy; (L.Q.); (L.C.)
| | - Angela Di Somma
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II” Via Cinthia 4, 80126 Napoli, Italy; (A.D.S.); (A.D.)
| | - Antonio Rosato
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
| | - Filomena Corbo
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
| | - Carlo Franchini
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
| | - Angela Duilio
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II” Via Cinthia 4, 80126 Napoli, Italy; (A.D.S.); (A.D.)
| | - Leonardo Caputo
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research, Via G. Amendola, 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy; (L.Q.); (L.C.)
| | - Solomon Habtemariam
- Pharmacognosy Research Laboratories & Herbal Analysis Services, University of Greenwich, Chatham-Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK;
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Department of Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; (G.M.); (R.S.); (L.S.); (A.R.); (F.C.); (C.F.); (G.L.)
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Abad-Zapatero C. Ligand efficiency indices for effective drug discovery: a unifying vector formulation. Expert Opin Drug Discov 2021; 16:763-775. [PMID: 33522838 DOI: 10.1080/17460441.2021.1884065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The area of ligand efficiency indices (LEIs) in drug discovery has developed significantly since the initial publications nearly 20 years ago. A large number of different LEIs have been defined and applied with certain degrees of success and acceptance in the community. An overall view emphasizing more the common elements than the differences is needed. AREAS COVERED In this review, the author accentuates the numerical and algebraic relationships among the different LEIs and proposes the notion of 'ligand efficiency index' (LEI) as a vector variable comprising two interrelated components that provide 'direction' and 'distance' along the drug discovery process. The same concept had been suggested before relating to the graphical representation of the content of Structure-Activity Databases (SAR-Databases). EXPERT OPINION The extension of the concept of ligand efficiency from a scalar to a vector will help to unify the different formulations by emphasizing the relationship among the different variables. It should also provide an algebraically robust framework to critically assess the value of LEIs, and to incorporate them routinely in various workflows and protocols. Only cautious and rigorous testing by the community could provide a definitive proof of their possible value as reliable optimization variables in drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Celerino Abad-Zapatero
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Tuberculosis Research, Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
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32
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Yañez O, Osorio MI, Uriarte E, Areche C, Tiznado W, Pérez-Donoso JM, García-Beltrán O, González-Nilo F. In Silico Study of Coumarins and Quinolines Derivatives as Potent Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease. Front Chem 2021; 8:595097. [PMID: 33614592 PMCID: PMC7893092 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2020.595097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The pandemic that started in Wuhan (China) in 2019 has caused a large number of deaths, and infected people around the world due to the absence of effective therapy against coronavirus 2 of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). Viral maturation requires the activity of the main viral protease (Mpro), so its inhibition stops the progress of the disease. To evaluate possible inhibitors, a computational model of the SARS-CoV-2 enzyme Mpro was constructed in complex with 26 synthetic ligands derived from coumarins and quinolines. Analysis of simulations of molecular dynamics and molecular docking of the models show a high affinity for the enzyme (∆E binding between -5.1 and 7.1 kcal mol-1). The six compounds with the highest affinity show K d between 6.26 × 10-6 and 17.2 × 10-6, with binding affinity between -20 and -25 kcal mol-1, with ligand efficiency less than 0.3 associated with possible inhibitory candidates. In addition to the high affinity of these compounds for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, low toxicity is expected considering the Lipinski, Veber and Pfizer rules. Therefore, this novel study provides candidate inhibitors that would allow experimental studies which can lead to the development of new treatments for SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osvaldo Yañez
- Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Center of New Drugs for Hypertension (CENDHY), Santiago, Chile
| | - Manuel Isaías Osorio
- Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile
| | - Eugenio Uriarte
- Departamento Química Orgánica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Instituto de Ciencias Químicas Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | - Carlos Areche
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - William Tiznado
- Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - José M. Pérez-Donoso
- Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Olimpo García-Beltrán
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad de Ibagué, Ibagué, Colombia
| | - Fernando González-Nilo
- Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
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Tragni V, Cotugno P, De Grassi A, Cavalluzzi MM, Mincuzzi A, Lentini G, Sanzani SM, Ippolito A, Pierri CL. Targeting Penicillium expansum GMC Oxidoreductase with High Affinity Small Molecules for Reducing Patulin Production. BIOLOGY 2020; 10:biology10010021. [PMID: 33396459 PMCID: PMC7824139 DOI: 10.3390/biology10010021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Revised: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 12/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary With the urgent necessity of potential treatments for limiting mycotoxin production and postharvest fungal rots, we propose a combined in silico/in vitro/in vivo strategy for the rapid and effective identification of bioactive small molecules, chosen among a chemical library hosting approved drugs and phytochemicals, to be used after harvest. The molecular target of our analysis was the GMC oxidoreductase from Penicillium expansum involved in the biosynthesis of patulin, a mycotoxin that can contaminate many foods, especially fruits and fruit-based products. The employed in silico/in vitro/in vivo assays described in our study proved the effectiveness of our strategy and in particular of two small molecules, 6-hydroxycoumarin (structurally related to umbelliferon, an already characterized patulin synthase inhibitor) and meticrane (an already approved drug) in reducing patulin accumulation. Our findings highly recommend the mentioned ligands to be subjected to further analysis for being used in the next future in place of other more toxic compounds, in postharvest treatments based on dipping or drenching methods. Abstract Flavine adenine dinucleotide (FAD) dependent glucose methanol choline oxidoreductase (GMC oxidoreductase) is the terminal key enzyme of the patulin biosynthetic pathway. GMC oxidoreductase catalyzes the oxidative ring closure of (E)-ascladiol to patulin. Currently, no protein involved in the patulin biosynthesis in Penicillium expansum has been experimentally characterized or solved by X-ray diffraction. Consequently, nothing is known about P. expansum GMC oxidoreductase substrate-binding site and mode of action. In the present investigation, a 3D comparative model for P. expansum GMC oxidoreductase has been described. Furthermore, a multistep computational approach was used to identify P. expansum GMC oxidoreductase residues involved in the FAD binding and in substrate recognition. Notably, the obtained 3D comparative model of P. expansum GMC oxidoreductase was used for performing a virtual screening of a chemical/drug library, which allowed to predict new GMC oxidoreductase high affinity ligands to be tested in in vitro/in vivo assays. In vitro assays performed in presence of 6-hydroxycoumarin and meticrane, among the highly affinity predicted binders, confirmed a dose-dependent inhibition (17–81%) of patulin production by 6-hydroxycoumarin (10 µM–1 mM concentration range), whereas the approved drug meticrane inhibited patulin production by 43% already at 10 µM. Furthermore, 6-hydroxycoumarin and meticrane caused a 60 and 41% reduction of patulin production, respectively, in vivo on apples at 100 µg/wound.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenzo Tragni
- Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy; (V.T.); (A.M.)
| | - Pietro Cotugno
- Biology Department, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy;
| | - Anna De Grassi
- Laboratory of Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology, Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies, Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy;
- BROWSer S.r.l., c/o Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies, Biopharmaceutics, University “Aldo Moro” of Bari, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi
- Dipartimento di Farmacia—Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy; (M.M.C.); (G.L.)
| | - Annamaria Mincuzzi
- Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy; (V.T.); (A.M.)
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Dipartimento di Farmacia—Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy; (M.M.C.); (G.L.)
| | - Simona Marianna Sanzani
- CIHEAM Bari, Via Ceglie 9, 70010 Valenzano (BA), Italy
- Correspondence: (S.M.S.); (A.I.); ; (C.L.P.); Tel.: +39-0805443614 (C.L.P.); Fax: +39-0805442770 (C.L.P.)
| | - Antonio Ippolito
- Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy; (V.T.); (A.M.)
- Correspondence: (S.M.S.); (A.I.); ; (C.L.P.); Tel.: +39-0805443614 (C.L.P.); Fax: +39-0805442770 (C.L.P.)
| | - Ciro Leonardo Pierri
- Laboratory of Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology, Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies, Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy;
- BROWSer S.r.l., c/o Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies, Biopharmaceutics, University “Aldo Moro” of Bari, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70126 Bari, Italy
- Correspondence: (S.M.S.); (A.I.); ; (C.L.P.); Tel.: +39-0805443614 (C.L.P.); Fax: +39-0805442770 (C.L.P.)
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Yonchev D, Bajorath J. DeepCOMO: from structure-activity relationship diagnostics to generative molecular design using the compound optimization monitor methodology. J Comput Aided Mol Des 2020; 34:1207-1218. [PMID: 33015739 PMCID: PMC7595974 DOI: 10.1007/s10822-020-00349-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The compound optimization monitor (COMO) approach was originally developed as a diagnostic approach to aid in evaluating development stages of analog series and progress made during lead optimization. COMO uses virtual analog populations for the assessment of chemical saturation of analog series and has been further developed to bridge between optimization diagnostics and compound design. Herein, we discuss key methodological features of COMO in its scientific context and present a deep learning extension of COMO for generative molecular design, leading to the introduction of DeepCOMO. Applications on exemplary analog series are reported to illustrate the entire DeepCOMO repertoire, ranging from chemical saturation and structure-activity relationship progression diagnostics to the evaluation of different analog design strategies and prioritization of virtual candidates for optimization efforts, taking into account the development stage of individual analog series.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dimitar Yonchev
- Department of Life Science Informatics, B-IT, LIMES Program Unit Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Endenicher Allee 19c, 53115, Bonn, Germany
| | - Jürgen Bajorath
- Department of Life Science Informatics, B-IT, LIMES Program Unit Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Endenicher Allee 19c, 53115, Bonn, Germany.
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(±)-trans-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans as leishmanicidal agents: Synthesis, in vitro evaluation and SAR analysis. Eur J Med Chem 2020; 205:112493. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2020] [Revised: 05/06/2020] [Accepted: 05/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Carocci A, Roselli M, Budriesi R, Micucci M, Desaphy JF, Altamura C, Cavalluzzi MM, Toma M, Passeri GI, Milani G, Lovece A, Catalano A, Bruno C, De Palma A, Corbo F, Franchini C, Habtemariam S, Lentini G. Synthesis and Evaluation of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Blocking Pyrroline Derivatives Endowed with Both Antiarrhythmic and Antioxidant Activities. ChemMedChem 2020; 16:578-588. [PMID: 33015979 DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202000692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Under the hypothesis that cardioprotective agents might benefit from synergism between antiarrhythmic activity and antioxidant properties, a small series of mexiletine analogues were coupled with the 2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrroline moiety, known for its antioxidant effect, in order to obtain dual-acting drugs potentially useful in the protection of the heart against post-ischemic reperfusion injury. The pyrroline derivatives reported herein were found to be more potent as antiarrhythmic agents than mexiletine and displayed antioxidant activity. The most interesting tetramethylpyrroline congener, a tert-butyl-substituted analogue, was at least 100 times more active as an antiarrhythmic than mexiletine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessia Carocci
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Mariagrazia Roselli
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Roberta Budriesi
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnologies, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Via Belmeloro 6, Bologna, 40126, Italy
| | - Matteo Micucci
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnologies, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Via Belmeloro 6, Bologna, 40126, Italy
| | - Jean-François Desaphy
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari Aldo Moro, piazza Giulio Cesare, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Concetta Altamura
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari Aldo Moro, piazza Giulio Cesare, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Maddalena Toma
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Giovanna Ilaria Passeri
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Gualtiero Milani
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Angelo Lovece
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Alessia Catalano
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Claudio Bruno
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Annalisa De Palma
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Filomena Corbo
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Carlo Franchini
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
| | - Solomon Habtemariam
- Pharmacognosy Research Laboratories & Herbal Analysis services UK, University of Greenwich, Chatham-Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, UK
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Department of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via E. Orabona n. 4, 70126, Bari, Italy
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Rossino G, Rui M, Pozzetti L, Schepmann D, Wünsch B, Zampieri D, Pellavio G, Laforenza U, Rinaldi S, Colombo G, Morelli L, Linciano P, Rossi D, Collina S. Setup and Validation of a Reliable Docking Protocol for the Development of Neuroprotective Agents by Targeting the Sigma-1 Receptor (S1R). Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E7708. [PMID: 33081037 PMCID: PMC7589021 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21207708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Sigma-1 receptor (S1R) is a promising molecular target for the development of novel effective therapies against neurodegenerative diseases. To speed up the discovery of new S1R modulators, herein we report the development of a reliable in silico protocol suitable to predict the affinity of small molecules against S1R. The docking method was validated by comparing the computational calculated Ki values of a test set of new aryl-aminoalkyl-ketone with experimental determined binding affinity. The druggability profile of the new compounds, with particular reference to the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) was further predicted in silico. Moreover, the selectivity over Sigma-2 receptor (S2R) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, another protein involved in neurodegeneration, was evaluated. 1-([1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl)-4-(piperidin-1-yl)butan-1-one (12) performed as the best compound and was further investigated for acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibitor activity and determination of antioxidant activity mediated by aquaporins (AQPs). With a good affinity against both S1R and NMDA receptor, good selectivity over S2R and favorable BBB penetration potential together with its AChE inhibitory activity and its ability to exert antioxidant effects through modulation of AQPs, 12 represents a viable candidate for further development as a neuroprotective agent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Rossino
- Department of Drug Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology Section, University of Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.R.); (M.R.); (L.P.); (P.L.); (D.R.)
| | - Marta Rui
- Department of Drug Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology Section, University of Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.R.); (M.R.); (L.P.); (P.L.); (D.R.)
| | - Luca Pozzetti
- Department of Drug Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology Section, University of Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.R.); (M.R.); (L.P.); (P.L.); (D.R.)
| | - Dirk Schepmann
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Münster, Corrensstraße 48, 48149 Münster, Germany; (D.S.); (B.W.)
| | - Bernhard Wünsch
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Münster, Corrensstraße 48, 48149 Münster, Germany; (D.S.); (B.W.)
| | - Daniele Zampieri
- Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste, 30126 Trieste, Italy;
| | - Giorgia Pellavio
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Human Physiology Unit, University of Pavia, via Forlanini 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.P.); (U.L.)
| | - Umberto Laforenza
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Human Physiology Unit, University of Pavia, via Forlanini 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.P.); (U.L.)
| | | | - Giorgio Colombo
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy;
| | - Laura Morelli
- Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, University of Milan, Via Saldini 50, 20133 Milan, Italy;
| | - Pasquale Linciano
- Department of Drug Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology Section, University of Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.R.); (M.R.); (L.P.); (P.L.); (D.R.)
| | - Daniela Rossi
- Department of Drug Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology Section, University of Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.R.); (M.R.); (L.P.); (P.L.); (D.R.)
| | - Simona Collina
- Department of Drug Sciences, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology Section, University of Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (G.R.); (M.R.); (L.P.); (P.L.); (D.R.)
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Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 3,5-diaryl isoxazole derivatives as potential anticancer agents. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2020; 30:127427. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2020.127427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Revised: 07/17/2020] [Accepted: 07/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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Carofiglio F, Trisciuzzi D, Gambacorta N, Leonetti F, Stefanachi A, Nicolotti O. Bcr-Abl Allosteric Inhibitors: Where We Are and Where We Are Going to. Molecules 2020; 25:E4210. [PMID: 32937901 PMCID: PMC7570842 DOI: 10.3390/molecules25184210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The fusion oncoprotein Bcr-Abl is an aberrant tyrosine kinase responsible for chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The auto-inhibition regulatory module observed in the progenitor kinase c-Abl is lost in the aberrant Bcr-Abl, because of the lack of the N-myristoylated cap able to bind the myristoyl binding pocket also conserved in the Bcr-Abl kinase domain. A way to overcome the occurrence of resistance phenomena frequently observed for Bcr-Abl orthosteric drugs is the rational design of allosteric ligands approaching the so-called myristoyl binding pocket. The discovery of these allosteric inhibitors although very difficult and extremely challenging, represents a valuable option to minimize drug resistance, mostly due to the occurrence of mutations more frequently affecting orthosteric pockets, and to enhance target selectivity with lower off-target effects. In this perspective, we will elucidate at a molecular level the structural bases behind the Bcr-Abl allosteric control and will show how artificial intelligence can be effective to drive the automated de novo design towards off-patent regions of the chemical space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Carofiglio
- Dipartimento di Farmacia Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70125 Bari, Italy; (F.C.); (D.T.); (N.G.); (F.L.)
| | - Daniela Trisciuzzi
- Dipartimento di Farmacia Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70125 Bari, Italy; (F.C.); (D.T.); (N.G.); (F.L.)
- Molecular Horizon srl, Via Montelino 32, 06084 Bettona, Italy
| | - Nicola Gambacorta
- Dipartimento di Farmacia Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70125 Bari, Italy; (F.C.); (D.T.); (N.G.); (F.L.)
| | - Francesco Leonetti
- Dipartimento di Farmacia Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70125 Bari, Italy; (F.C.); (D.T.); (N.G.); (F.L.)
| | - Angela Stefanachi
- Dipartimento di Farmacia Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70125 Bari, Italy; (F.C.); (D.T.); (N.G.); (F.L.)
| | - Orazio Nicolotti
- Dipartimento di Farmacia Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70125 Bari, Italy; (F.C.); (D.T.); (N.G.); (F.L.)
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Kalt MM, Schuehly W, Saf R, Ochensberger S, Solnier J, Bucar F, Kaiser M, Presser A. Palladium-catalysed synthesis of arylnaphthoquinones as antiprotozoal and antimycobacterial agents. Eur J Med Chem 2020; 207:112837. [PMID: 33002847 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 08/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Malaria and tuberculosis are still among the leading causes of death in low-income countries. The 1,4-naphthoquinone (NQ) scaffold can be found in a variety of anti-infective agents. Herein, we report an optimised, high yield process for the preparation of various 2-arylnaphthoquinones by a palladium-catalysed Suzuki reaction. All synthesised compounds were evaluated for their in-vitro antiprotozoal and antimycobacterial activity. Antiprotozoal activity was assessed against Plasmodium falciparum (P.f.) NF54 and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (T.b.r.) STIB900, and antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis (M.s.) mc2 155. Substitution with pyridine and pyrimidine rings significantly increased antiplasmodial potency of our compounds. The 2-aryl-NQs exhibited trypanocidal activity in the nM range with a very favourable selectivity profile. (Pseudo)halogenated aryl-NQs were found to have a pronounced effect indicating inhibition of mycobacterial efflux pumps. Cytotoxicity of all compounds towards L6 cells was evaluated and the respective selectivity indices (SI) were calculated. In addition, the physicochemical parameters of the synthesised compounds were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc-Manuel Kalt
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Graz, Schubertstrasse 1, A-8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Wolfgang Schuehly
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 4, A-8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Robert Saf
- Institute for Chemistry and Technology of Materials (ICTM), University of Technology, Stremayrgasse 9, A-8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Sandra Ochensberger
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 4, A-8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Julia Solnier
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 4, A-8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Franz Bucar
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 4, A-8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Marcel Kaiser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Armin Presser
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Graz, Schubertstrasse 1, A-8010, Graz, Austria.
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Domenico A, Nicola G, Daniela T, Fulvio C, Nicola A, Orazio N. De Novo Drug Design of Targeted Chemical Libraries Based on Artificial Intelligence and Pair-Based Multiobjective Optimization. J Chem Inf Model 2020; 60:4582-4593. [PMID: 32845150 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Artificial intelligence and multiobjective optimization represent promising solutions to bridge chemical and biological landscapes by addressing the automated de novo design of compounds as a result of a humanlike creative process. In the present study, we conceived a novel pair-based multiobjective approach implemented in an adapted SMILES generative algorithm based on recurrent neural networks for the automated de novo design of new molecules whose overall features are optimized by finding the best trade-offs among relevant physicochemical properties (MW, logP, HBA, HBD) and additional similarity-based constraints biasing specific biological targets. In this respect, we carried out the de novo design of chemical libraries targeting neuraminidase, acetylcholinesterase, and the main protease of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Several quality metrics were employed to assess drug-likeness, chemical feasibility, diversity content, and validity. Molecular docking was finally carried out to better evaluate the scoring and posing of the de novo generated molecules with respect to X-ray cognate ligands of the corresponding molecular counterparts. Our results indicate that artificial intelligence and multiobjective optimization allow us to capture the latent links joining chemical and biological aspects, thus providing easy-to-use options for customizable design strategies, which are especially effective for both lead generation and lead optimization. The algorithm is freely downloadable at https://github.com/alberdom88/moo-denovo and all of the data are available as Supporting Information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberga Domenico
- Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Via E. Orabona, 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Gambacorta Nicola
- Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Via E. Orabona, 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Trisciuzzi Daniela
- Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Via E. Orabona, 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy.,Molecular Horizon srl, Via Montelino 32, 06084 Bettona, Italy
| | - Ciriaco Fulvio
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Via E. Orabona, 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Amoroso Nicola
- Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Via E. Orabona, 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy
| | - Nicolotti Orazio
- Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Via E. Orabona, 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy
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42
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Mignani S, Majoral JP, Desaphy JF, Lentini G. From Riluzole to Dexpramipexole via Substituted-Benzothiazole Derivatives for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Disease Treatment: Case Studies. Molecules 2020; 25:E3320. [PMID: 32707914 PMCID: PMC7435757 DOI: 10.3390/molecules25153320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2020] [Revised: 07/21/2020] [Accepted: 07/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The 1,3-benzothiazole (BTZ) ring may offer a valid option for scaffold-hopping from indole derivatives. Several BTZs have clinically relevant roles, mainly as CNS medicines and diagnostic agents, with riluzole being one of the most famous examples. Riluzole is currently the only approved drug to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) but its efficacy is marginal. Several clinical studies have demonstrated only limited improvements in survival, without benefits to motor function in patients with ALS. Despite significant clinical trial efforts to understand the genetic, epigenetic, and molecular pathways linked to ALS pathophysiology, therapeutic translation has remained disappointingly slow, probably due to the complexity and the heterogeneity of this disease. Many other drugs to tackle ALS have been tested for 20 years without any success. Dexpramipexole is a BTZ structural analog of riluzole and was a great hope for the treatment of ALS. In this review, as an interesting case study in the development of a new medicine to treat ALS, we present the strategy of the development of dexpramipexole, which was one of the most promising drugs against ALS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge Mignani
- Laboratoire de Chimie et de Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologique, Université Paris Descartes, PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 860, 45, rue des Saints Peres, 75006 Paris, France
- CQM-Centro de Química da Madeira, MMRG, Universidade da Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
| | - Jean-Pierre Majoral
- Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS, 205 route de Narbonne, 31077 Toulouse CEDEX 4, France;
- Université Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, 31077 Toulouse CEDEX 4, France
| | - Jean-François Desaphy
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Oncologia Umana, Scuola di Medicina, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare, 70124 Bari, Italy;
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Dipartimento di Farmacia—Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
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43
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COVID-19, Chloroquine Repurposing, and Cardiac Safety Concern: Chirality Might Help. Molecules 2020; 25:molecules25081834. [PMID: 32316270 PMCID: PMC7221598 DOI: 10.3390/molecules25081834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Revised: 04/14/2020] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The desperate need to find drugs for COVID-19 has indicated repurposing strategies as our quickest way to obtain efficacious medicines. One of the options under investigation is the old antimalarial drug, chloroquine, and its analog, hydroxychloroquine. Developed as synthetic succedanea of cinchona alkaloids, these chiral antimalarials are currently in use as the racemate. Besides the ethical concern related to accelerated large-scale clinical trials of drugs with unproven efficacy, the known potential detrimental cardiac effects of these drugs should also be considered. In principle, the safety profile might be ameliorated by using chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine single enantiomers in place of the racemate.
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Development of a Rapid Mass Spectrometric Determination of AMP and Cyclic AMP for PDE3 Activity Study: Application and Computational Analysis for Evaluating the Effect of a Novel 2-oxo-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitrile Derivative as PDE-3 Inhibitor. Molecules 2020; 25:molecules25081817. [PMID: 32326556 PMCID: PMC7221589 DOI: 10.3390/molecules25081817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Revised: 04/08/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
A simple, quick, easy and cheap tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method for the determination of adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) has been newly developed. This novel MS/MS method was applied for the evaluation of the inhibitory effect of a novel 2-oxo-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitrile derivative, also named DF492, on PDE3 enzyme activity in comparison to its parent drug milrinone. Molecule DF492, with an IC50 of 409.5 nM, showed an inhibition of PDE3 greater than milrinone (IC50 = 703.1 nM). To explain the inhibitory potential of DF492, molecular docking studies toward the human PDE3A were carried out with the aim of predicting the binding mode of DF492. The presence of different bulkier decorating fragments in DF492 was pursued to shift affinity of this novel molecule toward PDE3A compared to milrinone in accordance with both the theoretical and experimental results. The described mass spectrometric approach could have a wider potential use in kinetic and biomedical studies and could be applied for the determination of other phosphodiesterase inhibitor molecules.
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45
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Dvořák Z, Kopp F, Costello CM, Kemp JS, Li H, Vrzalová A, Štěpánková M, Bartoňková I, Jiskrová E, Poulíková K, Vyhlídalová B, Nordstroem LU, Karunaratne CV, Ranhotra HS, Mun KS, Naren AP, Murray IA, Perdew GH, Brtko J, Toporova L, Schön A, Wallace BD, Walton WG, Redinbo MR, Sun K, Beck A, Kortagere S, Neary MC, Chandran A, Vishveshwara S, Cavalluzzi MM, Lentini G, Cui JY, Gu H, March JC, Chatterjee S, Matson A, Wright D, Flannigan KL, Hirota SA, Sartor RB, Mani S. Targeting the pregnane X receptor using microbial metabolite mimicry. EMBO Mol Med 2020; 12:e11621. [PMID: 32153125 PMCID: PMC7136958 DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201911621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2019] [Revised: 02/04/2020] [Accepted: 02/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The human PXR (pregnane X receptor), a master regulator of drug metabolism, has essential roles in intestinal homeostasis and abrogating inflammation. Existing PXR ligands have substantial off-target toxicity. Based on prior work that established microbial (indole) metabolites as PXR ligands, we proposed microbial metabolite mimicry as a novel strategy for drug discovery that allows exploiting previously unexplored parts of chemical space. Here, we report functionalized indole derivatives as first-in-class non-cytotoxic PXR agonists as a proof of concept for microbial metabolite mimicry. The lead compound, FKK6 (Felix Kopp Kortagere 6), binds directly to PXR protein in solution, induces PXR-specific target gene expression in cells, human organoids, and mice. FKK6 significantly represses pro-inflammatory cytokine production cells and abrogates inflammation in mice expressing the human PXR gene. The development of FKK6 demonstrates for the first time that microbial metabolite mimicry is a viable strategy for drug discovery and opens the door to underexploited regions of chemical space.
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MacLeod-Carey D, Solis-Céspedes E, Lamazares E, Mena-Ulecia K. Evaluation of new antihypertensive drugs designed in silico using Thermolysin as a target. Saudi Pharm J 2020; 28:582-592. [PMID: 32435139 PMCID: PMC7229335 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsps.2020.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The search for new therapies for the treatment of Arterial hypertension is a major concern in the scientific community. Here, we employ a computational biochemistry protocol to evaluate the performance of six compounds (Lig783, Lig1022, Lig1392, Lig2177, Lig3444 and Lig6199) to act as antihypertensive agents. This protocol consists of Docking experiments, efficiency calculations of ligands, molecular dynamics simulations, free energy, pharmacological and toxicological properties predictions (ADME-Tox) of the six ligands against Thermolysin. Our results show that the docked structures had an adequate orientation in the pocket of the Thermolysin enzymes, reproducing the X-ray crystal structure of Inhibitor-Thermolysin complexes in an acceptable way. The most promising candidates to act as antihypertensive agents among the series are Lig2177 and Lig3444. These compounds form the most stable ligand-Thermolysin complexes according to their binding free energy values obtained in the docking experiments as well as MM-GBSA decomposition analysis calculations. They present the lowest values of Ki, indicating that these ligands bind strongly to Thermolysin. Lig2177 was oriented in the pocket of Thermolysin in such a way that both OH of the dihydroxyl-amino groups to establish hydrogen bond interactions with Glu146 and Glu166. In the same way, Lig3444 interacts with Asp150, Glu143 and Tyr157. Additionally, Lig2177 and Lig3444 fulfill all the requirements established by Lipinski Veber and Pfizer 3/75 rules, indicating that these compounds could be safe compounds to be used as antihypertensive agents. We are confident that our computational biochemistry protocol can be used to evaluate and predict the behavior of a broad range of compounds designed in silicoagainst a protein target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Desmond MacLeod-Carey
- Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Facultad de Ingeniería, Instituto de Ciencias Químicas Aplicadas, Inorganic Chemistry and Molecular Materials Center, El Llano Subercaseaux 2801, San Miguel, Santiago, Chile
| | - Eduardo Solis-Céspedes
- Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, Universidad Católica del Maule, 3460000 Talca, Chile
| | - Emilio Lamazares
- Universidad de Concepción, Biotechnology and Biopharmaceutical Laboratory, Pathophysiology Department, School of Biological Sciences, Victor Lamas 1290, P.O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile
| | - Karel Mena-Ulecia
- Universidad Católica de Temuco, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Departamento de Ciencias Biolígicas y Químicas, Ave. Rudecindo Ortega #02950, Temuco, Chile
- Corresponding author at: Universidad Católica de Temuco, Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Químicas, Ave. Rudecindo Ortega #02950, Temuco, Región de la Araucanía, Chile.
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Tondo AR, Caputo L, Mangiatordi GF, Monaci L, Lentini G, Logrieco AF, Montaruli M, Nicolotti O, Quintieri L. Structure-Based Identification and Design of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme-Inhibitory Peptides from Whey Proteins. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2020; 68:541-548. [PMID: 31860295 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.9b06237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Besides their nutritional value, whey protein (WP) peptides are food components retaining important pharmacological properties for controlling hypertension. We herein report how the use of complementary experimental and theoretical investigations allowed the identification of novel angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory (ACEI) peptides obtained from a WP hydrolysate and addressed the rational design of even shorter sequences based on molecular pruning. Thus, after bromelain digestion followed by a 5 kDa cutoff ultrafiltration, WP hydrolysate with ACEI activity was fractioned by RP-HPLC; 2 out of 23 collected fractions retained ACEI activity and were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In the face of 128 identified peptides, molecular docking was carried out to prioritize peptides and to rationally guide the design of novel shorter and bioactive sequences. Therefore, 11 peptides, consisting of 3-6 amino acids and with molecular weights in the range from 399 to 674 Da, were rationally designed and then purchased to determine the IC50 value. This approach allowed the identification of two novel peptides: MHI and IAEK with IC50 ACEI values equal to 11.59 and 25.08 μM, respectively. Interestingly, we also confirmed the well-known ACEI IPAVF with an IC50 equal to 9.09 μM. In light of these results, this integrated approach could pave the way for high-throughput screening and identification of new peptides in dairy products. In addition, the herein proposed ACEI peptides could be exploited for novel applications both for food production and pharmaceuticals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Rita Tondo
- Department of Pharmacy-Drug Sciences , University of Studies of Bari Aldo Moro , Via E. Orabona, 4 , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Leonardo Caputo
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research , Via G. Amendola, 122/O , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Giuseppe Felice Mangiatordi
- Istituto di Cristallografia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Via G. Amendola 122/O , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Linda Monaci
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research , Via G. Amendola, 122/O , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Giovanni Lentini
- Department of Pharmacy-Drug Sciences , University of Studies of Bari Aldo Moro , Via E. Orabona, 4 , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Antonio Francesco Logrieco
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research , Via G. Amendola, 122/O , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Michele Montaruli
- Department of Pharmacy-Drug Sciences , University of Studies of Bari Aldo Moro , Via E. Orabona, 4 , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Orazio Nicolotti
- Department of Pharmacy-Drug Sciences , University of Studies of Bari Aldo Moro , Via E. Orabona, 4 , 70126 Bari , Italy
| | - Laura Quintieri
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA) National Council of Research , Via G. Amendola, 122/O , 70126 Bari , Italy
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48
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Identification of novel quinoline inhibitor for EHMT2/G9a through virtual screening. Biochimie 2020; 168:220-230. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2019.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2019] [Accepted: 11/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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49
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Schneider P, Walters WP, Plowright AT, Sieroka N, Listgarten J, Goodnow RA, Fisher J, Jansen JM, Duca JS, Rush TS, Zentgraf M, Hill JE, Krutoholow E, Kohler M, Blaney J, Funatsu K, Luebkemann C, Schneider G. Rethinking drug design in the artificial intelligence era. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2019. [DOI: 78495111110.1038/s41573-019-0050-3' target='_blank'>'"<>78495111110.1038/s41573-019-0050-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [78495111110.1038/s41573-019-0050-3','', '10.1080/17460441.2017.1365056')">Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/29/2022]
78495111110.1038/s41573-019-0050-3" />
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50
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Rethinking drug design in the artificial intelligence era. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2019; 19:353-364. [DOI: 10.1038/s41573-019-0050-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 222] [Impact Index Per Article: 44.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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