Synthesis and PGE2 production inhibition of s-triazine derivatives as a novel scaffold in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells.

We present the synthesis and biological evaluation of a collection of s-triazine derivatives as a novel scaffold of compounds with the capability to inhibit the PGE2 production in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. A total of 12 derivatives were synthesized and assayed for PGE2 reduction at 10 µM concentration. Two compounds (7b and 7i) exhibiting >90% inhibition of PGE2 production were found to have IC50 values of 5.76 and 5.52 µM, respectively. They were counter screened for inhibition on COX-2 activity in a cell free assay. Specifically, compound 7i (R¹ = 4-Bn-Ph, R² = Cl, R³ = Ph, R5 = CO2Me) was highly active in cells while maintaining little COX-2 inhibition (∼0% at 10 µM). Molecular docking study provides the possibility that compound 7i could inhibit PGE2 production by blocking the PGH2 binding site of mPGES-1 instead of COX-2 enzyme. Based on this result, our synthetic efforts will focus on intensive structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of s-triazine scaffold to discovery a potential PGE2 synthesis inhibitor.

Synthesis, biological evaluation, and docking analysis of a novel family of 1-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2,5-diones as highly potent and selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors.

As a continuous research for discovery of new COX-2 inhibitors, we present the simple chemical synthesis, in vitro biological screening, and molecular docking study of 1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione derivatives. New synthetic compounds were evaluated for the inhibitory activities on LPS-induced PGE2 production in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells as well as the COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitory potency. Among them, compound 9d (MPO-0029) was identified as more potent and selective COX-2 inhibitor [PGE2 IC50=8.7 nM, COX-2 IC50=6.0 nM; COX-2 selectivity index (SI)=>168] than celecoxib. Molecular docking experiments were further performed against COX-2 and COX-1 isozymes to determine their probable binding models. Results of molecular docking studies revealed that compound 9d (MPO-0029) has stronger binding interaction with COX-2 than with COX-1 isozyme, and provided successfully complementary theoretical support for the obtained experimental biological data.