Privileged scaffold inspired design of novel oxime-biphenyl-DAPYs in treatment of HIV-1.

Oxime is a key pharmacophore in drug development. The biphenyl diarylpyrimidines (DAPYs) have been developed by our group as novel non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). In this study, fourteen oxime-biphenyl-DAPYs were designed and synthesized through a privileged scaffold inspired design strategy. They exhibited promising activity toward wild type HIV-1 and single mutant strains. Compound 7d was found to be the most potent one against both wild type (EC50 = 12.1 nM) and E138K mutant strains (EC50 = 0.0270 µM). It also had a much lower cytotoxicity (CC50 > 292 µM) and higher selective index (SI > 24105) than those of the FDA-approved drugs efavirenz and etravirine. Molecular docking and dynamics simulation predicted and disclosed the binding mode of compound 7d with the RT, providing the explanation on the antiviral activity. These results were helpful for subsequent structural optimizations in anti-HIV-1 drug discovery.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 2-(substituted phenylaminocarbonylmethylthio)-6-(2,6-dichlorobenzyl)-pyrimidin-4(3H)-ones as potent HIV-1 NNRTIs.

A series of novel 2-(phenylaminocarbonylmethylthio)-6-(2,6-dichlorobenzyl)-pyrimidin-4(3H)-ones have been designed and synthesized. All of the new compounds were evaluated for their anti-HIV activities in MT-4 cells. Most of these new compounds showed moderate to potent activities against wild-type HIV-1 with an EC(50) ranging from 4.48microM to 0.18microM. Among them, 2-[(4-bromophenylamino)carbonylmethylthio]-6-(2,6-dichlorobenzyl)-5-methylpyrimidin-4(3H)-one 4b3 was identified as the most promising compound (EC(50) = 0.18+/-0.06microM, CC(50) >243.56microM, SI >1326). The structure-activity relationship (SAR) of these new congeners is discussed.

Iron withdrawal strategies fail to prevent the growth of SiHa-induced tumors in mice.

OBJECTIVE: Cervical carcinoma is a human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancer for which treatment options still mainly rely on surgical procedures, with or without adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. We have previously shown that the chemically unrelated iron chelators desferrioxamine and deferiprone inhibit the growth and induce the apoptosis of HPV-positive cervical carcinoma cell lines, suggesting that iron chelators may represent a potential therapeutic approach for the treatment of cervical carcinoma. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of iron deprivation on the growth of human cervical carcinoma xenografts in athymic nude mice. METHODS: Nude mice (nu/nu) of BALB/c background were treated with iron chelators [desferrioxamine (DFO), deferiprone (L1), or starch-DFO conjugate] or were fed with an iron-poor diet 6 weeks prior to subcutaneous injection of Si-Ha cells. These treatments were continued for 5 weeks after injection of the tumor cells. Treatment with the maximum tolerated doses of DFO, L1, or starch-DFO conjugate induced no significant iron deprivation in non-iron-overloaded mice, while an iron-poor diet led to a dramatic decrease in serum iron, transferrin iron saturation, and ferritin levels. However, neither iron chelators nor an iron-poor diet could significantly inhibit tumor growth. CONCLUSION: Despite a potent antitumor effect in vitro, iron chelators fail to prevent the growth of cervical carcinoma xenografts in mice. On the basis of these results, clinical trials with iron chelators in patients with cervical carcinoma appear inappropriate.