Selective inhibitors of protozoan protein N-myristoyltransferases as starting points for tropical disease medicinal chemistry programs.

Inhibition of N-myristoyltransferase has been validated pre-clinically as a target for the treatment of fungal and trypanosome infections, using species-specific inhibitors. In order to identify inhibitors of protozoan NMTs, we chose to screen a diverse subset of the Pfizer corporate collection against Plasmodium falciparum and Leishmania donovani NMTs. Primary screening hits against either enzyme were tested for selectivity over both human NMT isoforms (Hs1 and Hs2) and for broad-spectrum anti-protozoan activity against the NMT from Trypanosoma brucei. Analysis of the screening results has shown that structure-activity relationships (SAR) for Leishmania NMT are divergent from all other NMTs tested, a finding not predicted by sequence similarity calculations, resulting in the identification of four novel series of Leishmania-selective NMT inhibitors. We found a strong overlap between the SARs for Plasmodium NMT and both human NMTs, suggesting that achieving an appropriate selectivity profile will be more challenging. However, we did discover two novel series with selectivity for Plasmodium NMT over the other NMT orthologues in this study, and an additional two structurally distinct series with selectivity over Leishmania NMT. We believe that release of results from this study into the public domain will accelerate the discovery of NMT inhibitors to treat malaria and leishmaniasis. Our screening initiative is another example of how a tripartite partnership involving pharmaceutical industries, academic institutions and governmental/non-governmental organisations such as Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust can stimulate research for neglected diseases.

Trypanosoma brucei glycogen synthase kinase-3, a target for anti-trypanosomal drug development: a public-private partnership to identify novel leads.

BACKGROUND: Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), expresses two proteins with homology to human glycogen synthase kinase 3ß (HsGSK-3) designated TbruGSK-3 short and TbruGSK-3 long. TbruGSK-3 short has previously been validated as a potential drug target and since this enzyme has also been pursued as a human drug target, a large number of inhibitors are available for screening against the parasite enzyme. A collaborative industrial/academic partnership facilitated by the World Health Organisation Tropical Diseases Research division (WHO TDR) was initiated to stimulate research aimed at identifying new drugs for treating HAT. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A subset of over 16,000 inhibitors of HsGSK-3 ß from the Pfizer compound collection was screened against the shorter of two orthologues of TbruGSK-3. The resulting active compounds were tested for selectivity versus HsGSK-3ß and a panel of human kinases, as well as in vitro anti-trypanosomal activity. Structural analysis of the human and trypanosomal enzymes was also performed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We identified potent and selective compounds representing potential attractive starting points for a drug discovery program. Structural analysis of the human and trypanosomal enzymes also revealed hypotheses for further improving selectivity of the compounds.