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Nikolaou PE, Lambrinidis G, Georgiou M, Karagiannis D, Efentakis P, Bessis-Lazarou P, Founta K, Kampoukos S, Konstantin V, Palmeira CM, Davidson SM, Lougiakis N, Marakos P, Pouli N, Mikros E, Andreadou I. Hydrolytic Activity of Mitochondrial F 1F O-ATP Synthase as a Target for Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: Discovery and In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Novel Inhibitors. J Med Chem 2023; 66:15115-15140. [PMID: 37943012 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2023]
Abstract
F1FO-ATP synthase is the mitochondrial complex responsible for ATP production. During myocardial ischemia, it reverses its activity, hydrolyzing ATP and leading to energetic deficit and cardiac injury. We aimed to discover novel inhibitors of ATP hydrolysis, accessing the druggability of the target within ischemia(I)/reperfusion(R) injury. New molecular scaffolds were revealed using ligand-based virtual screening methods. Fifty-five compounds were tested on isolated murine heart mitochondria and H9c2 cells for their inhibitory activity. A pyrazolo[3,4-c]pyridine hit structure was identified and optimized in a hit-to-lead process synthesizing nine novel derivatives. Three derivatives significantly inhibited ATP hydrolysis in vitro, while in vivo, they reduced myocardial infarct size (IS). The novel compound 31 was the most effective in reducing IS, validating that inhibition of F1FO-ATP hydrolytic activity can serve as a target for cardioprotection during ischemia. Further examination of signaling pathways revealed that the cardioprotection mechanism is related to the increased ATP content in the ischemic myocardium and increased phosphorylation of PKA and phospholamban, leading to the reduction of apoptosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panagiota-Efstathia Nikolaou
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - George Lambrinidis
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Maria Georgiou
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Dimitrios Karagiannis
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Panagiotis Efentakis
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Pavlos Bessis-Lazarou
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Konstantina Founta
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Stavros Kampoukos
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Vasilis Konstantin
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Carlos M Palmeira
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra and Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Sean M Davidson
- The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute, University College London, 67 Chenies Mews, WC1E 6HX London, United Kingdom
| | - Nikolaos Lougiakis
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Panagiotis Marakos
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Nicole Pouli
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
| | - Emmanuel Mikros
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
- Athena Research and Innovation Center in Information Communication & Knowledge Technologies, 15125 Marousi, Greece
| | - Ioanna Andreadou
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15771 Athens, Greece
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Nikolaou P, Bessis-Lazarou P, Efentakis P, Karagiannis D, Lougiakis N, Lambrinidis G, Pouli N, Marakos P, Palmeira C, Mikros E, Davidson S, Andreadou I. Hydrolytic activity of mitochondrial F1Fo ATP synthase as a target for myocardial ischemia: discovery and in vitro evaluation of novel inhibitors. Eur Heart J 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/ehjci/ehaa946.3604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background/Introduction
F1Fo ATP synthase is the mitochondrial complex responsible for ATP production. During myocardial ischemia, ATP synthase reverses its activity to hydrolyse ATP leading to cellular energetic deficit, contracture and lethal cardiomyocyte injury. Therefore, inhibition of ATP hydrolase is of major significance and the discovery of selective hydrolase inhibitors could be of particular interest in terms of cardiac response to ischemia.
Purpose
We performed an in vitro screening in order to identify and evaluate novel specific inhibitors of the hydrolytic activity of ATP synthase.
Methods
Initially, we identified inhibitors of the hydrolytic activity of ATP synthase using virtual screening methods. Docking-scoring calculations were performed targeting the three major inhibition sites of a holistic model of ATP synthase of mus musculus that was modelled for the first time. In silico ligand-based virtual screening was carried out using known binders such as BMS199264. The workflow was implemented on our in-house library of 2000 compounds, Pharmalab, plus 266,151 compounds of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) database. The best candidates were evaluated in vitro on isolated murine heart mitochondria to verify their inhibitory effect on ATP synthase hydrolytic activity. Moreover, we confirmed their action at a cellular level. H9C2 cells were treated with the three best candidates in the presence of rotenone and their ability to maintain membrane potential was monitored. The experiment was repeated in absence of rotenone in order to detect toxic or non-specific effects (n=5 independent experiments). Finally, the compounds were tested using an assay in which primary adult rat ventricular cardiomyocytes (ARVCs) were challenged with the mitochondrial uncoupler CCCP to induce reverse ATPase activity, and time until contracture was determined. For the in vitro experiments, oligomycin, a non-selective ATPase inhibitor and BTB06584 a selective hydrolase inhibitor were used as positive controls.
Results
Different steps of filtering through the virtual screening provided 38 molecules from Pharmalab and 15 candidates form NCI database. From the 53 candidates in total, five compounds displayed in vitro inhibitory activity at 200μM on isolated mitochondria and their IC50 values were determined. Among them, three synthetic derivatives possessing a central pyrazolopyridine core displayed the best IC50 values (81.7±1.3 μM, 99.8±1.2 μM, 144.8±1.3μM) and were evaluated on the H9C2 cells. They exhibited significant inhibitory activity at 50μM (p<0.01 compared to vehicle) while the BTB06584 inhibitor was inactive at the same concentration and two of them were selective. Finally, the final novel inhibitors significantly extended (p<0.001) the time until shortening of the ARVCs.
Conclusion
We have discovered two novel agents that act as selective inhibitors of ATP hydrolase and can be tested against myocardial ischemia.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding source: None
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Affiliation(s)
- P.E Nikolaou
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - P Bessis-Lazarou
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - P Efentakis
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - D Karagiannis
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - N Lougiakis
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - G Lambrinidis
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - N Pouli
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - P Marakos
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - C Palmeira
- University of Coimbra and Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, Department of Life Sciences, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - E Mikros
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - S.M Davidson
- University College London, The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - I Andreadou
- School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
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