In Silico and In Vitro Study towards the Rational Design of 4,4'-Disarylbisthiazoles as a Selective α-Synucleinopathy Biomarker.

The α-synucleinopathies are a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the deposition of α-synuclein aggregates (α-syn) in the brain. Currently, there is no suitable tracer to enable a definitive early diagnosis of these diseases. We reported candidates based on 4,4'-disarylbisthiazole (DABTA) scaffold with a high affinity towards α-syn and excellent selectivity over Aß and tau fibrils. Based on prior in silico studies, a focused library of 23 halogen-containing and O-methylated DABTAs was prepared. The DABTAs were synthesized via a modified two-step Hantzsch thiazole synthesis, characterized, and used in competitive binding assays against [3H]PiB and [3H]DCVJ. The DABTAs were obtained with an overall chemical yield of 15-71%, and showed a calculated lipophilicity of 2.5-5.7. The ligands demonstrated an excellent affinity to α-syn with both [3H]PiB and [3H]DCVJ: Ki 0.1-4.9 nM and up to 20-3900-fold selectivity over Aß and tau fibrils. It could be concluded that in silico simulation is useful for the rational design of a new generation of DABTAs. Further investigation of the leads in the next step is encouraged: radiolabeling of the ligands with radioisotopes such as fluorine-18 or carbon-11 for in vivo, ex vivo, and translational research and for further in vitro experiments on human-derived protein aggregates.

Toward Novel [18F]Fluorine-Labeled Radiotracers for the Imaging of α-Synuclein Fibrils.

The accumulation of α-synuclein aggregates (α-syn) in the human brain is an occurrence common to all α-synucleinopathies. Non-invasive detection of these aggregates in a living brain with a target-specific radiotracer is not yet possible. We have recently discovered that the inclusion of a methylenedioxy group in the structure of diarylbisthiazole (DABTA)-based tracers improves binding affinity and selectivity to α-syn. Subsequently, complementary in silico modeling and machine learning (ML) of tracer-protein interactions were employed to predict surface sites and structure-property relations for the binding of the ligands. Based on this observation, we developed a small focused library of DABTAs from which 4-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)-4'-(3-[18F]fluoro-4-methoxyphenyl)-2,2'-bithiazole [ 18 F]d 2, 6-(4'-(3-[18F]fluoro-4-methoxyphenyl)-[2,2'-bithiazol]-4-yl)-[1,3]dioxolo[4,5-b]pyridine [ 18 F]d 4, 4-(benzo [d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)-4'-(6-[18F]fluoropyridin-3-yl)-2,2'-bithiazole [ 18 F]d 6, and 6-(4'-(6-[18F]fluoropyridin-3-yl)-[2,2'-bithiazol]-4-yl)-[1,3]dioxolo[4,5-b]pyridine [ 18 F]d 8 were selected based on their high binding affinity to α-syn and were further evaluated. Binding assay experiments carried out with the non-radioactive versions of the above tracers d 2, d 4, d 6, and d 8 showed high binding affinity of the ligands to α-syn: 1.22, 0.66, 1.21, and 0.10 nM, respectively, as well as excellent selectivity over ß-amyloid plaques (Aß) and microtubular tau aggregates (>200-fold selectivity). To obtain the tracers, their precursors were radiolabeled either via an innovative ruthenium-mediated (SNAr) reaction ([ 18 F]d 2 and [ 18 F]d 4) or typical SNAr reaction ([ 18 F]d 6 and [ 18 F]d 8) with moderate-to-high radiochemical yields (13% - 40%), and high molar activity > 60 GBq/µmol. Biodistribution experiments carried out with the tracers in healthy mice revealed that [ 18 F]d 2 and [ 18 F]d 4 showed suboptimal brain pharmacokinetics: 1.58 and 4.63 %ID/g at 5 min post-injection (p.i.), and 1.93 and 3.86 %ID/g at 60 min p.i., respectively. However, [ 18 F]d 6 and [ 18 F]d 8 showed improved brain pharmacokinetics: 5.79 and 5.13 %ID/g at 5 min p.i.; 1.75 and 1.07 %ID/g at 60 min p.i.; and 1.04 and 0.58 %ID/g at 120 min p.i., respectively. The brain uptake kinetics of [ 18 F]d 6 and [ 18 F]d 8 were confirmed in a dynamic PET study. Both tracers also showed no brain radiometabolites at 20 min p.i. in initial in vivo stability experiments carried out in healthy mice. [ 18 F]d 8 seems very promising based on its binding properties and in vivo stability, thus encouraging further validation of its usefulness as a radiotracer for the in vivo visualization of α-syn in preclinical and clinical settings. Additionally, in silico and ML-predicted values correlated with the experimental binding affinity of the ligands.