Tau Aggregation Inhibiting Peptides as Potential Therapeutics for Alzheimer Disease.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder. AD causes enormous personal and economic burden to society as currently only limited palliative therapeutic options are available. The pathological hallmarks of the disease are extracellular plaques, composed of fibrillar amyloid-ß (Aß), and neurofibrillary tangles inside neurons, composed of Tau protein. Until recently, the search for AD therapeutics was focussed more on the Aß peptide and its pathology, but the results were unsatisfying. As an alternative, Tau might be a promising therapeutic target as its pathology is closely correlated to clinical symptoms. In addition, pathological Tau aggregation occurs in a large group of diseases, called Tauopathies, and in most of them Aß aggregation does not play a role in disease pathogenesis. The formation of Tau aggregates is triggered by two hexapeptide motifs within Tau; PHF6* and PHF6. Both fragments are interesting targets for the development of Tau aggregation inhibitors (TAI). Peptides represent a unique class of pharmaceutical compounds and are reasonable alternatives to chemical substances or antibodies. They are attributed with high biological activity, valuable specificity and low toxicity, and often are developed as drug candidates to interrupt protein-protein interactions. The preparation of peptides is simple, controllable and the peptides can be easily modified. However, their application may also have disadvantages. Currently, a few peptide compounds acting as TAI are described in the literature, most of them developed by structure-based design or phage display. Here, we review the current state of research in this promising field of AD therapy development.

A novel D-amino acid peptide with therapeutic potential (ISAD1) inhibits aggregation of neurotoxic disease-relevant mutant Tau and prevents Tau toxicity in vitro.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that mainly affects older adults. One of the pathological hallmarks of AD is abnormally aggregated Tau protein that forms fibrillar deposits in the brain. In AD, Tau pathology correlates strongly with clinical symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, and neuronal death. METHODS: We aimed to develop novel therapeutic D-amino acid peptides as Tau fibrillization inhibitors. It has been previously demonstrated that D-amino acid peptides are protease stable and less immunogenic than L-peptides, and these characteristics may render them suitable for in vivo applications. Using a phage display procedure against wild type full-length Tau (TauFL), we selected a novel Tau binding L-peptide and synthesized its D-amino acid version ISAD1 and its retro inversed form, ISAD1rev, respectively. RESULTS: While ISAD1rev inhibited Tau aggregation only moderately, ISAD1 bound to Tau in the aggregation-prone PHF6 region and inhibited fibrillization of TauFL, disease-associated mutant full-length Tau (TauFLΔK, TauFL-A152T, TauFL-P301L), and pro-aggregant repeat domain Tau mutant (TauRDΔK). ISAD1 and ISAD1rev induced the formation of large high molecular weight TauFL and TauRDΔK oligomers that lack proper Thioflavin-positive ß-sheet conformation even at lower concentrations. In silico modeling of ISAD1 Tau interaction at the PHF6 site revealed a binding mode similar to those known for other PHF6 binding peptides. Cell culture experiments demonstrated that ISAD1 and its inverse form are taken up by N2a-TauRDΔK cells efficiently and prevent cytotoxicity of externally added Tau fibrils as well as of internally expressed TauRDΔK. CONCLUSIONS: ISAD1 and related peptides may be suitable for therapy development of AD by promoting off-pathway assembly of Tau, thus preventing its toxicity.

Potent Tau Aggregation Inhibitor D-Peptides Selected against Tau-Repeat 2 Using Mirror Image Phage Display.

Alzheimer's disease and other Tauopathies are associated with neurofibrillary tangles composed of Tau protein, as well as toxic Tau oligomers. Therefore, inhibitors of pathological Tau aggregation are potentially useful candidates for future therapies targeting Tauopathies. Two hexapeptides within Tau, designated PHF6* (275-VQIINK-280) and PHF6 (306-VQIVYK-311), are known to promote Tau aggregation. Recently, the PHF6* segment has been described as the more potent driver of Tau aggregation. We therefore employed mirror-image phage display with a large peptide library to identify PHF6* fibril binding peptides consisting of D-enantiomeric amino acids. The suitability of D-enantiomeric peptides for in vivo applications, which are protease stable and less immunogenic than L-peptides, has already been demonstrated. The identified D-enantiomeric peptide MMD3 and its retro-inverso form, designated MMD3rev, inhibited in vitro fibrillization of the PHF6* peptide, the repeat domain of Tau as well as full-length Tau. Dynamic light scattering, pelleting assays and atomic force microscopy demonstrated that MMD3 prevents the formation of tau ß-sheet-rich fibrils by diverting Tau into large amorphous aggregates. NMR data suggest that the D-enantiomeric peptides bound to Tau monomers with rather low affinity, but ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) data demonstrated binding to PHF6* and full length Tau fibrils. In addition, molecular insight into the binding mode of MMD3 to PHF6* fibrils were gained by in silico modelling. The identified PHF6*-targeting peptides were able to penetrate cells. The study establishes PHF6* fibril binding peptides consisting of D-enantiomeric amino acids as potential molecules for therapeutic and diagnostic applications in AD research.

Enantioselective Michael addition/iminium ion cyclization cascades of tryptamine-derived ureas.

A Michael addition/iminium ion cyclization cascade of enones with tryptamine-derived ureas under BINOL phosphoric acid (BPA) catalysis is reported. The cascade reaction tolerates a wide variety of easily synthesized tryptamine-derived ureas, including those bearing substituents on the distal nitrogen atom of the urea moiety, affording polyheterocyclic products in good yields and good to excellent enantioselectivities.

2-chlorophenyl zinc bromide: a convenient nucleophile for the mannich-related multicomponent synthesis of clopidogrel and ticlopidine.

A methodological study devoted to the Mannich-like multicomponent synthesis of the antiplatelet agent (±)­clopidogrel (7) and the ethyl ester analogue 6 is described. The process involves the formation of 2-chlorophenyl zinc bromide (2) and its subsequent reaction with an alkyl glyoxylate and 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrothieno[3,2-c]pyridine (3). We demonstrate that the organozinc reagent 2 also constitutes a very convenient nucleophile for the multicomponent synthesis of the benzylamine core of ticlopidine (9).

Convenient method for the rapid generation of highly active and enantioselective yttrium catalysts for asymmetric hydroamination.

A facile method for the preparation of highly active and enantioselective yttrium precatalysts for asymmetric hydroamination of gem-disubstituted aminoalkenes, from the combination of YCl(3) or YCl(3)(THF)(3.5) with ligand (R)- and n-BuLi is described.

New chiral lanthanide amide ate complexes for the catalysed synthesis of scalemic nitrogen-containing heterocycles.

New chiral binaphthylamido yttrium and ytterbium ate complexes with lithium and potassium counterions have been synthesised and characterised. X-ray structures have been obtained for [Li(thf)4][Ln{(R)-C20H12(NC5H9)2}2] (Ln=Yb, Y) and [K(thf)5][Yb{(R)-C20H12(NCH2CMe3)2}2] as isostructural complexes. The efficiency of these complexes for the enantioselective intramolecular hydroamination was examined. [Li(thf)4][Yb{(R)-C20H12(NC5H9)2}2] afforded the highest enantiomeric excess (up to 87 %) for the synthesis of a spiropyrrolidine, while [Li(thf)4][Y{(R)-C20H12(NC5H9)2}2] proved to be slightly more active. The role of the counter cation in the active catalytic species was evidenced by the comparison between lithium and potassium ate complexes. The most active catalyst of this series, [Li(thf)4][Yb{(R)-C20H12(NCH2CMe3)2}2], was successfully used for the cyclisation of aminopentenes with internal double bonds.

Asymmetric hydroamination of non-activated carbon-carbon multiple bonds.

The catalysed enantioselective formation of carbon-nitrogen bonds by the hydroamination reaction is reviewed. All examples deal with substrates containing non-activated carbon-carbon multiple bonds which are transformed either via intramolecular or intermolecular reactions. Structurally different complexes already provided nitrogen containing compounds/heterocycles with high enantioselectivities.

A synthetic entry to furo[2,3-b]pyridin-4(1H)-ones and related furoquinolinones via iodocyclization.

[reaction: see text] N-Methyl-4-alkoxy-3-alkynylpyridin-2(1H)-ones readily undergo iodine-promoted 5-endo-heteroannulation under mild conditions to 3-iodofuropyridinium triiodide salts in moderate to good yields. The latter may be dealkylated in situ upon exposure to an iodide anion to provide the corresponding 3-iodofuro[2,3-b]pyridin-4(1H)-ones. The same strategy applies to the formation of furo[2,3-b]quinolin-4(9H)-ones.