Structure-Based Discovery and Bioactivity Evaluation of Novel Aurora-A Kinase Inhibitors as Anticancer Agents via Docking-Based Comparative Intermolecular Contacts Analysis (dbCICA)

Research progress on the relationship between AURKA and tumorigenesis: the neglected nuclear function of AURKA

AURKA is a threonine or serine kinase that needs to be activated by TPX2, Bora and other factors. AURKA is located on chromosome 20 and is amplified or overexpressed in many human cancers, such as breast cancer. AURKA regulates some basic cellular processes, and this regulation is realized via the phosphorylation of downstream substrates. AURKA can function in either the cytoplasm or the nucleus. It can promote the transcription and expression of oncogenes together with other transcription factors in the nucleus, including FoxM1, C-Myc, and NF-κB. In addition, it also sustains carcinogenic signaling, such as N-Myc and Wnt signaling. This article will focus on the role of AURKA in the nucleus and its carcinogenic characteristics that are independent of its kinase activity to provide a theoretical explanation for mechanisms of resistance to kinase inhibitors and a reference for future research on targeted inhibitors.

Discovery of novel chemotype inhibitors targeting Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase receptor through ligand-based pharmacophore modelling

Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) is a receptor tyrosine kinase within the insulin receptor superfamily. Alterations in ALK, such as rearrangements, mutations, or amplifications, have been detected in various tumours, including lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and non-small cell lung cancer. In this study, we outline a computational workflow designed to uncover new inhibitors of ALK. This process starts with a ligand-based exploration of the pharmacophoric space using 13 diverse sets of ALK inhibitors. Subsequently, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modelling is employed in combination with a genetic function algorithm to identify the optimal combination of pharmacophores and molecular descriptors capable of elucidating variations in anti-ALK bioactivities within a compiled list of inhibitors. The successful QSAR model revealed three pharmacophores, two of which share three similar features, prompting their merger into a single pharmacophore model. The merged pharmacophore was used as a 3D search query to mine the National Cancer Institute (NCI) database for novel anti-ALK leads. Subsequent in vitro bioassay of the top 40 hits identified two compounds with low micromolar IC50 values. Remarkably, one of the identified leads possesses a novel chemotype compared to known ALK inhibitors.

Design, synthesis, and biochemical and computational screening of novel oxindole derivatives as inhibitors of Aurora A kinase and SARS-CoV-2 spike/host ACE2 interaction

Isatin (indol-2,3-dione), a secondary metabolite of tryptophan, has been used as the core structure to design several compounds that have been tested and identified as potent inhibitors of apoptosis, potential antitumor agents, anticonvulsants, and antiviral agents. In this work, several analogs of isatin hybrids have been synthesized and characterized, and their activities were established as inhibitors of both Aurora A kinase and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike/host angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) interactions. Amongst the synthesized isatin hybrids, compounds 6a, 6f, 6g, and 6m exhibited Aurora A kinase inhibitory activities (with IC50 values < 5 μ M), with GScore values of -7.9, -7.6, -8.2 and -7.7 kcal/mol, respectively. Compounds 6g and 6i showed activities in blocking SARS-CoV-2 spike/ACE2 binding (with IC50 values in the range < 30 μ M), with GScore values of -6.4 and -6.6 kcal/mol, respectively. Compounds 6f, 6g, and 6i were both capable of inhibiting spike/ACE2 binding and blocking Aurora A kinase. Pharmacophore profiling indicated that compound 6g tightly fits Aurora A kinase and SARS-CoV-2 pharmacophores, while 6d fits SARS-CoV-2 and 6l fits Aurora A kinase pharmacophore. This work is a proof of concept that some existing cancer drugs may possess antiviral properties. Molecular modeling showed that the active compound for each protein adopted different binding modes, hence interacting with a different set of amino acid residues in the binding site. The weaker activities against spike/ACE2 could be explained by the small sizes of the ligands that fail to address the important interactions for binding to the ACE2 receptor site.

Pharmacophore Mapping Combined with dbCICA Reveal New Structural Features for the Development of Novel Ligands Targeting α4β2 and α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

The neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) belong to the ligand-gated ion channel (GLIC) group, presenting a crucial role in several biological processes and neuronal disorders. The α4β2 and α7 nAChRs are the most abundant in the central nervous system (CNS), being involved in challenging diseases such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorder, as well as alcohol and nicotine dependencies. In addition, in silico-based strategies may contribute to revealing new insights into drug design and virtual screening to find new drug candidates to treat CNS disorders. In this context, the pharmacophore maps were constructed and validated for the orthosteric sites of α4β2 and α7 nAChRs, through a docking-based Comparative Intermolecular Contacts Analysis (dbCICA). In this sense, bioactive ligands were retrieved from the literature for each receptor. A molecular docking protocol was developed for all ligands in both receptors by using GOLD software, considering GoldScore, ChemScore, ASP, and ChemPLP scoring functions. Output GOLD results were post-processed through dbCICA to identify critical contacts involved in protein-ligand interactions. Moreover, Crossminer software was used to construct a pharmacophoric map based on the most well-behaved ligands and negative contacts from the dbCICA model for each receptor. Both pharmacophore maps were validated by using a ROC curve. The results revealed important features for the ligands, such as the presence of hydrophobic regions, a planar ring, and hydrogen bond donor and acceptor atoms for α4β2. Parallelly, a non-planar ring region was identified for α7. These results can enable fragment-based drug design (FBDD) strategies, such as fragment growing, linking, and merging, allowing an increase in the activity of known fragments. Thus, our results can contribute to a further understanding of structural subunits presenting the potential for key ligand-receptor interactions, favoring the search in molecular databases and the design of novel ligands.

Biological Evaluation and Reverse Pharmacophore Mapping of Innovative Bis-Triazoles as Promising Anticancer Agents

Here, we describe further cytotoxic studies and reverse pharmacophore mapping (pharmacophore profiling) for bis-triazoles MS44-53, which were designed and synthesized previously to stabilize the G-quadruplex nucleic acids capable of being formed at the telomeric region and promoter sequences of genes involved in cellular proliferation and oncogenes. Pharmacophore-based activity profiling screen demonstrated some biological targets that MS44-53 may modulate their biological response, and thus can be considered as potential drugs to treat different kinds of diseases, such as carcinoma, diabetes type II, bacterial infection and cardiovascular diseases. Potent cell growth inhibitory properties were shown by ligands MS47 and MS49 against human melanoma MDA-MB-435, colon cancer HCT-116 and COLO 205, and pancreatic cancer MIA PaCa-2 cell lines, as evidenced by MTT assay. Both ligands were more potent against cancer cells than in skin normal CCD-1064Sk fibroblasts.

Aim:

The aim of this study is to identify the molecular target and mechanism of action of our promising anticancer bis-triazoles MS44-53, focusing specifically on the G-quadruplex stabilizers MS47 and MS49.

Background:

In molecular biology, G-quadruplexes (also known as G4-DNA), one of the higher-order structures of polynucleotides, are four stranded structures formed by nucleic acid sequences which are rich in guanine. They are formed mainly at the single-stranded G-overhang of telomeric DNA and within promoter sequences of genes involved in cellular proliferation and oncogenes such as c-myc, c-kit, and Hsp90. Stabilization of DNA G-quadruplexes is one of the anticancer strategies that has the potential to treat all cancers regardless of the type. A new series of bis-triazoles MS44-53 were developed to stabilize G-quadruplex structures selectively, as G4 ligands and experimental antitumour agents. FRET assay showed that MS47 and MS49 were only the best binders towards the Hsp90 promoter G-guadruplexes. While all bis-triazoles MS44-53 exhibited potent cell growth inhibitory activity against human carcinoma cell lines, suggesting that the ligands perturb molecular targets and mechanisms of action, other than stabilizing G-quadruplexes, contributing to antitumor activity. Therefore, the molecular targets and mechanisms of action of bis-triazoles MS44-53 in different types of human cancer cell lines should be determined by performing further computational studies to MS44-53 and in vitro evaluations for the G-quadruplex stabilizers MS47 and MS49.

Objectives:

1- Determining the exact IC50 for bis-triazoles MS47 & MS49 against four different types of human cancer cell lines; melanoma MDA-MB-435, pancreatic cancer MIA PaCa-2, and colon cancer HCT-116 and COLO 205 cell lines.

2- Predicting the biological targets that bis-triazoles MS44-53 may interact with to trigger or block their biological response.

Methods:

1- MTT assay was used for in vitro evaluation of the antiproliferative activities of MS47 and MS49, and determination of IC50 values.

2- Reverse pharmacophore mapping (pharmacophore profiling) was used for predicting the biological targets of bis-triazoles MS44-53, and determining the % binding probabilities.

Results:

MS49 exhibited more potent proliferation inhibitory activity than MS47 and higher IC50 value against skin normal fibroblasts. Pharmacophore profiling demonstrated FGFR1, PDGFR2, FLT3, mTOR, PPAR-gamma, MUR-F and CETP as biological targets for bis-triazoles MS44-53.

Conclusion:

Bis-triazoles MS47 and MS49 are promising selective innovative compounds with wide spectrum cytotoxic activities against distinct cancer types. Bis-triazoles MS44-53 can be considered as potential drugs to treat different types of carcinoma, in addition to diabetes type II, bacterial infection and cardiovascular diseases.

Other:

Further in vitro evaluations will be performed for bis-triazoles MS44-53 in order to identify their molecular targets and mechanisms of action in different types of human cancer cell lines.

Aurora Kinase B Inhibition: A Potential Therapeutic Strategy for Cancer

Aurora kinase B (AURKB) is a mitotic serine/threonine protein kinase that belongs to the aurora kinase family along with aurora kinase A (AURKA) and aurora kinase C (AURKC). AURKB is a member of the chromosomal passenger protein complex and plays a role in cell cycle progression. Deregulation of AURKB is observed in several tumors and its overexpression is frequently linked to tumor cell invasion, metastasis and drug resistance. AURKB has emerged as an attractive drug target leading to the development of small molecule inhibitors. This review summarizes recent findings pertaining to the role of AURKB in tumor development, therapy related drug resistance, and its inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy for cancer. We discuss AURKB inhibitors that are in preclinical and clinical development and combination studies of AURKB inhibition with other therapeutic strategies.