Discovery of novel ID2 antagonists from pharmacophore-based virtual screening as potential therapeutics for glioma.

Glioma, especially the most aggressive type glioblastoma multiforme, is a malignant cancer of the central nervous system with a poor prognosis. Traditional treatments are mainly surgery combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is still far from satisfactory. Therefore, it is of great clinical significance to find new therapeutic agents. Serving as an inhibitor of differentiation, protein ID2 (inhibitor of DNA binding 2) plays an important role in neurogenesis, neovascularization and malignant development of gliomas. It has been shown that ID2 affects the malignant progression of gliomas through different mechanisms. In this study, a pharmacophore-based virtual screening was carried out and 16 hit compounds were purchased for pharmacological evaluations on their ID2 inhibitory activities. Based on the cytotoxicity of these small-molecule compounds, two compounds were shown to effectively inhibit the viability of glioma cells in the micromolar range. Among them, AK-778-XXMU was chosen for further study due to its better solubility in water. A SPR (Surface Plasma Resonance) assay proved the high affinity between AK-778-XXMU and ID2 protein with the KD value as 129 nM. The plausible binding mode of ID2 was studied by molecular docking and it was found to match AGX51 very well in the same binding site. Subsequently, the cancer-suppressing potency of the compound was characterized both in vitro and in vivo. The data demonstrated that compound AK-778-XXMU is a potent ID2 antagonist which has the potential to be developed as a therapeutic agent against glioma.

Discovery of novel artemisinin-sulfonamidehybrids as potential carbonicanhydraseIX inhibitors with improved antiproliferative activities.

A series of artemisinin-sulfonamide hybrids (1-16) have been designed and synthesized by using molecular hybridization approach and investigated for the inhibitory activity of four human (h) carbonic anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1), hCA I, II, IX and XII. The results indicated most of the target compounds showed better CA IX and CA XII inhibitory activity than the starting segment sulfanilamide. Among all the compounds, compound 3 (IC50: 5 nM) showed the best CA IX inhibitory efficacy. The p-aminobenzenesulfonamide derivatives showed significant antiproliferative activities against MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line and HT-29 colon cancer cell line under hypoxic conditions where CA IX and CA XII are overexpressed and most of them showed no apparent cytotoxic effects toward MCF-10A normal mammary epithelial cell. Among these derivatives, compound 3 displayed the most potent antiproliferative activities (IC50: 0.65 µM) against HT-29 cell line under hypoxia and low cytotoxicity (IC50: 78.0 µM) toward normal cell line. Meanwhile, compound 3 was found to efficiently decrease the hypoxia-induced extracellular acidification in both cancer cells. Molecular docking studies of compounds 3, 4, 5 and 9 revealed the proper interactions between the hybrid molecules and the active site of CA IX. All the results proved the effectiveness of the hybridization approach to develop novel artemisinin-sulfonamide compounds targeting CA IX for cancer treatment.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 8-(2-amino-1-hydroxyethyl)-6-hydroxy-1,4-benzoxazine-3(4H)-one derivatives as potent ß2-adrenoceptor agonists.

A series of ß2-adrenoceptor agonists with an 8-(2-amino-1-hydroxyethyl)-6-hydroxy-1,4-benzoxazine-3(4H)-one moiety is presented. The stimulatory effects of the compounds on human ß2-adrenoceptor and ß1-adrenoceptor were characterized by a cell-based assay. Their smooth muscle relaxant activities were tested on isolated guinea pig trachea. Most of the compounds were found to be potent and selective agonists of the ß2-adrenoceptor. One of the compounds, (R)-18c, possessed a strong ß2-adrenoceptor agonistic effect with an EC50 value of 24 pM. It produced a full and potent airway smooth muscle relaxant effect same as olodaterol. Its onset of action was 3.5 min and its duration of action was more than 12 h in an in vitro guinea pig trachea model of bronchodilation. These results suggest that (R)-18c is a potential candidate for long-acting ß2-AR agonists.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of carbohydrate-based sulphonamide derivatives as topical antiglaucoma agents through selective inhibition of carbonic anhydrase II.

A series of new carbohydrate-based sulphonamide derivatives were designed, synthesised by employing the so-call 'sugar-tail' approach. The compounds were evaluated in vitro against a panel of CAs. Compared to their parent compound p-sulfamoylbenzoic acid, these compounds showed nearly 100-fold improvement in their binding affinities against hCA II in vitro. All of compounds showed great water solubility and the pH value of their water solutions of compounds is 7.0. Such properties are advantageous to make them much less irritating to the eye when applied topical glaucomatous drugs, compared to the relatively highly acidic dorzolamide preparations (pH 5.5). Notably, compounds 7d, 7 g, 7 h demonstrated to topically lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucomatous animals better than brinzolamide when applied as a 1% solution directly into the eye. Low cytotoxicity on human cornea epithelial cell was observed in the tested concentrations by the MTT assay.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 5-(2-amino-1-hydroxyethyl)-8-hydroxyquinolin-2(1H)-one derivatives as potent ß2-adrenoceptor agonists.

A series of novel ß2-adrenoceptor agonists with a 5-(2-amino-1-hydroxyethyl)-8-hydroxyquinolin-2(1H)-one moiety was designed, synthesized and evaluated for biological activity in human embryonic kidney 293 cells and isolated guinea pig trachea. Compounds 9g and (R)-18c exhibited the most excellent ß2-adrenoceptor agonistic effects and high ß2/ß1-selectivity with EC50 values of 36 pM for 9g and 21 pM for (R)-18c. They produced potent airway smooth muscle relaxant effects with fast onset of action and long duration of action in an in vitro guinea pig trachea model of bronchodilation. These results support further development of the two compounds into drug candidates.