RESUMO
The success of hit-finding campaigns relies on many factors, including the quality and diversity of the set of compounds that is selected for screening. This paper presents a generalized workflow that guides compound selections from large compound archives with opportunities to bias the selections with available knowledge in order to improve hit quality while still effectively sampling the accessible chemical space. An optional flag in the workflow supports an explicit complement design function where diversity selections complement a given core set of compounds. Results from three project applications as well as a literature case study exemplify the effectiveness of the approach, which is available as a KNIME workflow named Biased Complement Diversity (BCD).
Assuntos
Descoberta de Drogas/métodos , Animais , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Antimaláricos/farmacologia , Avaliação Pré-Clínica de Medicamentos/métodos , Bactérias Gram-Negativas/efeitos dos fármacos , Infecções por Bactérias Gram-Negativas/tratamento farmacológico , Ensaios de Triagem em Larga Escala/métodos , Humanos , Malária Falciparum/tratamento farmacológico , Plasmodium falciparum/efeitos dos fármacos , Mapas de Interação de Proteínas/efeitos dos fármacos , Bibliotecas de Moléculas Pequenas/farmacologia , Fluxo de TrabalhoRESUMO
Peptide deformylase (PDF) catalyzes the removal of the N-terminal formyl group from newly synthesized polypeptides in eubacteria. Its essential role in bacterial cells but not in mammalian cells makes it an attractive target for antibacterial drug design. We have previously reported an N-formylhydroxylamine-based, metal-chelating macrocyclic PDF inhibitor, in which the P(1)' and P(3)' side chains are covalently joined. In this work, we have carried out a structure-activity relationship study on the size of the macrocycle and found that 15-17-membered macrocycles are optimal for binding to the PDF active site. Unlike the acyclic compounds, which are simple competitive inhibitors, the cyclic compounds all act as slow-binding inhibitors. As compared to their acyclic counterparts, the cyclic inhibitors displayed 20-50-fold higher potency against the PDF active site (K(I) as low as 70 pM), improved selectivity toward PDF, and improved the metabolic stability in rat plasma. Some of the macrocyclic inhibitors had potent, broad spectrum antibacterial activity against clinically significant Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. These results suggest that the macrocyclic scaffold provides an excellent lead for the development of a new class of antibiotics.