Treatment of Clostridium difficile infection using SQ641, a capuramycin analogue, increases post-treatment survival and improves clinical measures of disease in a murine model.

OBJECTIVES: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a primary cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoeal illness. Current therapies are insufficient as relapse rates following antibiotic treatment range from 25% for initial treatment to 60% for treatment of recurrence. In this study, we looked at the efficacy of SQ641 in a murine model of CDI. SQ641 is an analogue of capuramycin, a naturally occurring nucleoside-based compound produced by Streptomyces griseus. METHODS: In a series of experiments, C57BL/6 mice were treated with a cocktail of antibiotics and inoculated with C. difficile strain VPI10463. Animals were treated orally with SQ641 for 5 days at a dose range of 0.1-300 mg/kg/day, 20 mg/kg/day vancomycin or drug vehicle. Animals were monitored for disease severity, clostridial shedding and faecal toxin levels for 14 days post-infection. RESULTS: Five day treatment of CDI with SQ641 resulted in higher 14 day survival rates in mice compared with either vancomycin or vehicle alone. CDI survival rates were 100% (13 of 13) and 94% (32 of 34), respectively, in the 1 and 10 mg/kg/day SQ641 treatment groups, 37% (7 of 19) with vancomycin treatment at 20 mg/kg/day and 32% (14 of 44) in the vehicle-only control group. Secondary measures of efficacy, such as prevention of weight loss, decreased disease severity, decreased C. difficile shedding and decreased toxin in faeces, were observed with SQ641 and vancomycin treatment. CONCLUSIONS: SQ641 is effective for CDI treatment with prevention of relapse in the murine model of CDI.

Permeability enhancing lipid-based co-solvent and SEDDS formulations of SQ641, an antimycobacterial agent.

CONTEXT: Tuberculosis (TB) is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by strains of Mycobacteria. Development of new anti-tubercular drugs is essential to control the emergence and severity of multidrug-resistant TB. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop an oral preclinical liquid formulation of SQ641 and to determine the permeability across rat intestinal tissue by Ussing chamber. METHODS: Thermal and chemical characterization of SQ641 was performed by differential scanning calorimetric analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and high performance liquid chromatography. A high throughput solubility screening technique was utilized to determine the solubility of SQ641 in different solvents and co-solvents. Several co-solvent and self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS) formulations were selected for Ussing chamber permeability studies. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Calculated average apparent permeability coefficients of SEDDS formulations of SQ641 (ranging from 0.03 × 10(-6) to 0.33 × 10(-6)) were found to be higher than the permeability coefficients of co-solvent formulations (ranging from 0.00 × 10(-6) to 0.09 × 10(-6)) and those of the neat drug SQ641 in buffer (0.00 × 10(-6)). CONCLUSION: SEDDS formulations with superior permeability characteristics may provide a useful dosage form for oral intake of anti-tubercular drug SQ641, possibly due to the increase in solubility and immediate dispersion of drug.

Therapeutic efficacy of SQ641-NE against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

A phospholipid-based nanoemulsion formulation of SQ641 (SQ641-NE) was active against intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis in J774A.1 mouse macrophages, although SQ641 by itself was not. Intravenous (i.v.) SQ641-NE was cleared from circulation and reached peak concentrations in lung and spleen in 1 h. In a murine tuberculosis (TB) model, 8 i.v. doses of SQ641-NE at 100 mg/kg of body weight over 4 weeks caused a 1.73 log10 CFU reduction of M. tuberculosis in spleen and were generally bacteriostatic in lungs.

Chemical modification of capuramycins to enhance antibacterial activity.

OBJECTIVES: To extend capuramycin spectrum of activity beyond mycobacteria and improve intracellular drug activity. METHODS: Three capuramycin analogues (SQ997, SQ922 and SQ641) were conjugated with different natural and unnatural amino acids or decanoic acid (DEC) through an ester bond at one or more available hydroxyl groups. In vitro activity of the modified compounds was determined against Mycobacterium spp. and representative Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Intracellular activity was evaluated in J774A.1 mouse macrophages infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv). RESULTS: Acylation of SQ997 and SQ641 with amino undecanoic acid (AUA) improved in vitro activity against most of the bacteria tested. Conjugation of SQ922 with DEC, but not AUA, improved its activity against Gram-positive bacteria. In the presence of efflux pump inhibitor phenylalanine arginine ß-naphthyl amide, MICs of SQ997-AUA, SQ641-AUA and SQ922-DEC compounds improved even further against drug-susceptible and drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In Gram-negative bacteria, EDTA-mediated permeabilization caused 4- to 16-fold enhancement of the activity of AUA-conjugated SQ997, SQ922 and SQ641. Conjugation of all three capuramycin analogues with AUA improved intracellular killing of H37Rv in murine macrophages. CONCLUSIONS: Conjugation of capuramycin analogues with AUA or DEC enhanced in vitro activity, extended the spectrum of activity in Gram-positive bacteria and increased intracellular activity against H37Rv.

Identification of SQ609 as a lead compound from a library of dipiperidines.

We recently reported that compounds created around a dipiperidine scaffold demonstrated activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) (Bogatcheva, E.; Hanrahan, C.; Chen, P.; Gearhart, J.; Sacksteder, K.; Einck, L.; Nacy, C.; Protopopova, M. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett.2010, 20, 201). To optimize the dipiperidine compound series and to select a lead compound to advance into preclinical studies, we evaluated the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of our proprietary libraries. The (piperidin-4-ylmethyl)piperidine scaffold was an essential structural element required for antibacterial activity. Based on SAR, we synthesized a focused library of 313 new dipiperidines to delineate additional structural features responsible for antitubercular activity. Thirty new active compounds with MIC 10-20 µg/ml on Mtb were identified, but none was better than the original hits of this series, SQ609, SQ614, and SQ615. In Mtb-infected macrophages in vitro, SQ609 and SQ614 inhibited more than 90% of intracellular bacterial growth at 4 µg/ml; SQ615 was toxic to these cells. In mice infected with Mtb, weight loss was completely prevented by SQ609, but not SQ614, and SQ609 had a prolonged therapeutic effect, extended by 10-15 days, after cessation of therapy. Based on in vitro and in vivo antitubercular activity, SQ609 was identified as the best-in-class dipiperidine compound in the series.

In vitro antimicrobial activities of capuramycin analogues against non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

OBJECTIVES: To determine antibacterial activity of capuramycin analogues SQ997, SQ922, SQ641 and RKS2244 against several non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). METHODS: In vitro antibiotic activities, i.e. MIC, MBC, rate of killing and synergistic interaction with other antibiotics, were evaluated. RESULTS: SQ641 was the most active compound against all the NTM species studied. The MIC of SQ641 was ≤0.06-4 mg/L for Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC; n = 20), 0.125-2 mg/L for M. avium paratuberculosis (MAP; n = 9), 0.125-2 mg/L for Mycobacterium kansasii (MKN;n = 2), 0.25-1 mg/L for Mycobacterium abscessus (MAB; n = 11), 4 mg/L for Mycobacterium smegmatis (MSMG; n = 1), and 1 and 8 mg/L for Mycobacterium ulcerans (MUL; n = 1), by microdilution and agar dilution methods, respectively. SQ641 was bactericidal against NTM, with an MBC/MIC ratio of 1 to 32, and killed all mycobacteria faster than positive control drugs for each strain. In chequerboard titrations, SQ641 was synergistic with ethambutol against both MAC and MSMG, and was synergistic with streptomycin and rifabutin against MAB. CONCLUSIONS: In vitro, SQ641 was the most potent of the capuramycin analogues against all NTM tested, both laboratory and clinical strains.

Discovery of dipiperidines as new antitubercular agents.

As part of our ongoing research effort to develop new therapeutics for treatment of tuberculosis (TB), we synthesized a combinatorial library of 10,358 compounds on solid support using a pool-and-split technique and tested the resulting compounds for activity against Mycobacteriumtuberculosis. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) evaluation identified new compounds with antitubercular activity, including a novel hit series that is structurally unrelated to any existing antitubercular drugs, dipiperidines. Dipiperidine representatives exhibited MIC values as low as 7.8microM, the ability to induce promoter Rv0341 activated in response to cell wall biosynthesis inhibition, relatively low nonspecific cellular toxicity in the range of 30-162microM, and logP values less than 4.

Activity of SQ641, a capuramycin analog, in a murine model of tuberculosis.

New delivery vehicles and routes of delivery were developed for the capuramycin analogue SQ641. While this compound has remarkable in vitro potency against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, it has low solubility in water and poor intracellular activity. We demonstrate here that SQ641 dissolved in the water-soluble vitamin E analogue alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) or incorporated into TPGS-micelles has significant activity in a mouse model of tuberculosis.

In search of new cures for tuberculosis.

The last 10 years have seen resurgent industry activity in discovery and development of new drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB), a growing widespread and devastating (more than 2 million deaths annually) bacterial infection that is of increasing concern in developing and developed nations alike. This review describes drugs currently being evaluated in the clinic for treatment of uncomplicated and drug resistant pulmonary TB, and updates the literature on 5 new drugs that entered clinical trials in the last 4 years.

Identification of new diamine scaffolds with activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

A diverse 5000-compound library was synthesized from commercially available diamines and screened for activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro, revealing 143 hits with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) equal to or less than 12.5 microM. New prospective scaffolds with antitubercular activity derived from homo-piperazine, phenyl- and benzyl-substituted piperazines, 4-aminomethylpiperidine, 4-aminophenylethylamine, and 4,4'-methylenebiscyclohexylamine were identified. Compound SQ775 derived from homopiperazine and compound SQ786 derived from benzylpiperazine had potent antimicrobial activity against M. tuberculosis in experimental animals in vivo.