Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 6, Issue 3, 2010

This paper describes the inhibitory activities of diacylglyceride phospholipids, such as phosphatidylcholine (lecithin), phosphatidylethanolamine (cephalin), phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylglycerol, bisphosphatidylglycerol (cardiolipin), phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidic acid (phosphatidate) (compounds 1–7, respectively) against DNA polymerase (pol), DNA topoisomerase (topo), and human cancer cell growth. Among the compounds tested, compounds 3–7 were revealed to be potent inhibitors of animal pols: compound 4 was the strongest inhibitor, with IC50 values for different pols of 1.7 – 15 μM. Compounds 4–7 also inhibited the activity of human topo II: compound 7 was the strongest inhibitor, with an IC50 value of 20 μM. The glycerophospholipids had no effect on the activities of plant (cauliflower) pol α, prokaryotic pols, or other DNA metabolic enzymes, such as calf primase of pol α, T7 RNA polymerase, T4 polynucleotide kinase, and bovine deoxyribonuclease I. These results suggest that compounds 4–7 are selective inhibitors of animal pols and human topos. Compounds 4 and 7 also suppressed the growth of a human colon carcinoma cell line that lacked p53 (HCT116 p53-/-); their LD50 values were 63.6 and 51.1 μM, respectively, suggesting that cell growth inhibition by these compounds leads to the inhibition of pols and/or topos. From these findings, diacylglyceride phospholipids, which are present in various foods, might be effective nutrients for promoting human anti-cancer health promotion.

We report herein the synthesis and biological evaluation of dimethyl-carbamic acid 2,3-bis-dimethylcarbamoyloxy- 6-(4-ethyl-piperazine-1-carbonyl)-phenyl ester (SP-04), a new drug candidate that is designed to offer a multi-target therapeutic neuroprotective approach as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). SP-04 inhibits acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity both in vitro and in vivo, and induces a dose-dependent increase in Ach levels. SP-04 releases the metabolite 4-(4-ethyl-piperazin-1-yl)-1-(2,3,4-trihydroxy-phenyl)-butan-1-one (SP-04m). Both SP-04 and SP-04m are σ1-receptor antagonists supporting their interest in relieving symptoms related to psychosis, a non-cognitive condition often associated with AD. SP-04m displays important antioxidant properties and both SP-04 and SP-04m offers neuroprotection against Aβ1-42 toxicity in various neuronal cell lines. In addition, both SP-04 and SP-04m protect neuronal cells and rat brain mitochondria exposed to various mitochondrial respiratory chain complex toxins. Taken together these data suggest that the SP-04 multi-targeting approach might offer a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of AD.

Selective human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitors such as cymserine have shown considerable promise for restoring cognition in Alzheimer's disease. Recently, (-)-debromoflustramine B, 1, a hexahydropyrrolo-[2,3-b]indole natural product isolated from the marine bryozoan Flustra foliacea, has demonstrated micromolar potency as a selective BChE inhibitor. Since (±)-demethyldebromoflustramine B, (±)-2, has an even lower IC50, and the active enantiomer is (-)- 2, derivatives of (-)-2 were constructed in silico and docked into the active site of BChE. Several compounds exhibited improved inhibitor potency and could be candidates for future synthesis and in vitro enzyme inhibition study.

The search for antiepileptic compounds with more selective activity continues to be an area of intensive investigation in medicinal chemistry. 3,5-Disubstituted tetrahydro-2H-1,3,5-thiadiazine-2-thione (THTT) derivatives, 3a-g, potential prodrugs incorporating the neurotransmitter GABA were synthesized and studied for crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Compounds were prepared from primary amines and carbon disulfide to give dithiocarbamates 2a-g which upon reaction in situ with formaldehyde provided the intermediates Ia-g. Addition of Ia-g onto GABA furnished the title compounds 3a-g. The structures were verified by spectral data and the amounts of the compounds in the brain were investigated by using HPLC. The concentration profiles of the tested compounds in mice brain were determined and the in vivo anticonvulsant activity was measured.

N-Methyl imidazole (Im) and N-methyl pyrrole (Py)-containing polyamides that can form stacked dimers can be programmed to target specific DNA sequences in the minor groove of DNA and control gene expression. Polyamides are being investigated as potential medicinal agents for treating diseases including cancer. The naturally occurring polyamide distamycin binds as a dimer in the minor groove of DNA and recognizes sequences rich in A/T and T/A base pairs indiscriminately. Synthetic analogs of distamycin that incorporate N-methylimidazole into the heterocyclic core have been shown to bind to G/C rich sequences with a high degree of specificity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the behavior of polyamides containing the 2,5-linked N-methylpyrrole-2-carboxamide or pyrrole(H) [Py(H)] moiety upon binding to DNA. The synthesis and biophysical characteristics of two polyamides PyPyPyPy(H) 2 and ImPyPyPy(H) 3 designed to test the binding preference of a Py/Pyrrole(H) pairing [Py/Py(H)] and a [Im/Py(H)] are described. Studies utilizing circular dichroism, thermal denaturation (..TM), biosensor-surface plasmon resonance and DNase I footprinting show that an [Im/Py(H), 3] pairing prefers a G/C or C/G pairing whilst a [Py/Py(H), 2] pairing tolerates A/T or T/A base pairs and avoids a G/C base pair.

A series of benzothiazole derivatives including N-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)cyclohexanecarboxamides (2a-g) and N-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)cyclohexancarbothioamides (3b-d) have been synthesized and evaluated for cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities. Two compounds including N-(6-ethoxybenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)cyclohexanecarboxamide (2c) and N-(6- ethoxybenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)cyclohexanecarbothiamide (3c) demonstrated significant cytotoxicity against three cancer cell lines (A549, MCF7-MDR and HT1080) while most of compounds exhibited moderate inhibitory effects on the growth of Staphyllococcus aureus and some other fungi.

The so-called “hub proteins” are those proteins in a protein-protein interaction network system that have remarkably higher interaction relations (or degrees) than the others. Therefore, the information of hub proteins can provide very useful insights for selecting or prioritizing targets during drug development. In this paper, by combining the multiagent- based method with the graphical spectrum analysis and immune-genetic algorithm, a novel simulator for identifying the hub proteins from membrane protein interaction networks is proposed. As a demonstration of using the simulator, two hub membrane proteins, YPL227C and YIL147C, were identified from a complicated network system consisting of 1500 membrane proteins. Meanwhile, along with the two identified hub proteins, their molecular functions, biological processes, and cellular components were also revealed. It is anticipated that the hub-protein-simulator may become a very useful tool for system biology and drug development, particularly in deciphering unknown protein functions, determining protein complexes, and in identifying the key targets from a complicated disease system.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial effects of different classes of important and common dietary phytochemicals (5 simple phenolics - tyrosol, gallic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and chlorogenic acid; chalcone - phloridzin; flavan-3-ol - (-) epicatechin; seco-iridoid - oleuropein glucoside; 3 glucosinolate hydrolysis products - allylisothiocyanate, benzylisothiocyanate and 2-phenylethylisothiocyanate) against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. Another objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dual combinations of streptomycin with the different phytochemicals on antibacterial activity. A disc diffusion assay was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the phytochemicals and 3 standard antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and streptomycin) against the four bacteria. The antimicrobial activity of single compounds and dual combinations (streptomycin-phytochemicals) were quantitatively assessed by measuring the inhibitory halos. The results showed that all of the isothiocyanates had significant antimicrobial activities, while the phenolics were much less efficient. No antimicrobial activity was observed with phloridzin. In general P. aeruginosa was the most sensitive microorganism and L. monocytogenes the most resistant. The application of dual combinations demonstrated synergy between streptomycin and gallic acid, ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, allylisothiocyanate and 2-phenylethylisothiocyanate against the Gram-negative bacteria. In conclusion, phytochemical products and more specifically the isothiocyanates were effective inhibitors of the in vitro growth of the Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria. Moreover, they can act synergistically with less efficient antibiotics to control bacterial growth.