Effects of buthiobate, a fungicide, on cytochrome P-450 of rat liver microsomes

Three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis of human CYP51 inhibitors

CYP51 fulfills an essential requirement for all cells, by catalyzing three sequential mono-oxidations within the cholesterol biosynthesis cascade. Inhibition of fungal CYP51 is used as a therapy for treating fungal infections, whereas inhibition of human CYP51 has been considered as a pharmacological approach to treat dyslipidemia and some forms of cancer. To predict the interaction of inhibitors with the active site of human CYP51, a three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship model was constructed. This pharmacophore model of the common structural features of CYP51 inhibitors was built using the program Catalyst from multiple inhibitors (n = 26) of recombinant human CYP51-mediated lanosterol 14alpha-demethylation. The pharmacophore, which consisted of one hydrophobe, one hydrogen bond acceptor, and two ring aromatic features, demonstrated a high correlation between observed and predicted IC(50) values (r = 0.92). Validation of this pharmacophore was performed by predicting the IC(50) of a test set of commercially available (n = 19) and CP-320626-related (n = 48) CYP51 inhibitors. Using predictions below 10 microM as a cutoff indicative of active inhibitors, 16 of 19 commercially available inhibitors (84%) and 38 of 48 CP-320626-related inhibitors (79.2%) were predicted correctly. To better understand how inhibitors fit into the enzyme, potent CYP51 inhibitors were used to build a Cerius(2) receptor surface model representing the volume of the active site. This study has demonstrated the potential for ligand-based computational pharmacophore modeling of human CYP51 and enables a high-throughput screening system for drug discovery and data base mining.

Selectivity of isoprenoid-containing imidazole antifungal compounds for sterol 14-demethylase P450 (P450(14)DM) and 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase P450 of rat liver microsomes

The imidazole antifungal compound AFK-108 (1-[2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2-((2E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6- dienyloxy)ethyl]-1H-imidazole) has been shown to be a potent inhibitor for yeast lanosterol 14 alpha-demethylase (P450(14)DM), interacting specifically with the sterol side-chain recognition part of the substrate site through its geranyl moiety. AFK-108 acted as a potent inhibitor for rat liver P450(14)DM, while its farnesyl (AFK-110) and prenyl (AFK-122) homologues were weak inhibitors. This indicates that AFK-108 interacts with rat liver P450(14(DM in the same manner as with the yeast enzyme. However, the difference between the potency of AFK-108 and the homologues was greater in rat P450(14)DM than in the yeast enzyme. AFK-108 and its homologues partially inhibited 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase activity of rat liver microsomes. The order of potency was AFK-122 > AFK-108 > AFK-110, indicating that some steric hindrance of the isoprenoid moiety might affect their potency. The inhibitory effect of AFK-108 for P450(14)DM was considerably higher than for 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase P450, while the inhibition of AFK-110 and AFK-122 on these enzymes was of the same order of magnitude. These results suggest that azole compounds interacting with the side-chain recognition site of P450(14)DM may be good candidates as antifungal agents selective for fungal P450(14)DM.

Different substrate specificities of lanosterol 14a-demethylase (P-45014DM) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and rat liver for 24-methylene-24,25-dihydrolanosterol and 24,25-dihydrolanosterol

The purified lanosterol 14a-demethylase (P-45014DM) of S. cerevisiae catalyzed the 14a-demethylation of 24-methylene-24,25-dihydrolanosterol (24-methylenelanost-8-en-3 beta-ol, 24-methylene-DHL), the natural substrate of the demethylase of filamentous fungi, as well as its natural substrate, lanosterol. Lanosterol 14a-demethylase of rat liver microsomes also catalyzed the 14a-demethylation of 24-methylene-DHL, but the activity was considerably lower than that for lanosterol. The activity of the rat liver enzyme for 24-methylene-DHL was also lower than that for 24,25-dihydrolanosterol (DHL), while the activity of yeast P-45014DM for 24-methylene-DHL was considerably higher than that for DHL. Since 24-substituted sterols are not found in mammals and DHL is not an intermediate of ergosterol biosynthesis by yeast, above-mentioned different substrate specificities between the yeast and the mammalian 14a-demethylases may reflect certain evolutional alteration in their active sites in relation to the difference in their sterol biosynthetic pathways.

Regulation of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase in human hepatoma cell line Hep G2. Effects of inhibitors of cholesterol synthesis on enzyme activity

Incubating Hep G2 cells for 18 h with triparanol, buthiobate and low concentrations (less than 0.5 microM) of U18666A, inhibitors of desmosterol delta 24-reductase, of lanosterol 14 alpha-demethylase and of squalene-2,3-epoxide cyclase (EC 5.4.99.7) respectively, resulted in a decrease of the HMG-CoA (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A) reductase activity. However, U18666A at concentrations higher than 3 microM increased the HMG-CoA reductase activity in a concentration-dependent manner. None of these inhibitors influenced directly the reductase activity in Hep G2 cell homogenates. Analysis by t.l.c. of 14C-labelled non-saponifiable lipids formed from either [14C]acetate or [14C]mevalonate during the cell incubations confirmed the sites of action of the drugs used. Beside the 14C-labelled substrates of the blocked enzymes and 14C-labelled cholesterol, another non-saponifiable lipid fraction was observed, which behaves as polar sterols on t.l.c. This was the case with triparanol and at those concentrations of U18666A that decreased the reductase activity, suggesting that polar sterols may play a role in suppressing the reductase activity. In the presence of 30 microM-U18666A (sterol formation blocked) the increase produced by simultaneously added compactin could be prevented by addition of mevalonate. This indicates the existence of a non-sterol mevalonate-derived effector in addition to a sterol-dependent regulation. LDL (low-density lipoprotein), which was shown to be able to decrease the compactin-induced increase in reductase activity, could not prevent the U18666A-induced increase. On the contrary, LDL enhanced the U18666A effect, showing that the LDL regulation is not merely the result of introducing cholesterol to the cells.