Sulfone-based human liver pyruvate kinase inhibitors - Design, synthesis and in vitro bioactivity.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a prevalent pathological condition characterised by the accumulation of fat in the liver. Almost one-third of the global population is affected by NAFLD, making it a significant health concern. However, despite its prevalence, there is currently no approved drug specifically designed for the treatment of NAFLD. To address this critical gap, researchers have been investigating potential targets for NAFLD drug development. One promising candidate is the liver isoform of pyruvate kinase (PKL). In recent studies, Urolithin C, an allosteric inhibitor of PKL, has emerged as a potential lead compound for therapeutic intervention. Building upon this knowledge, our team has conducted a comprehensive structure-activity relationship of Urolithin C. In this work, we have employed a scaffold-hopping approach, modifying the urolithin structure by replacing the urolithin carbonyl with a sulfone moiety. Our structure-activity relationship analysis has identified the sulfone group as particularly favourable for potent PKL inhibition. Additionally, we have found that the presence of catechol moieties on the two aromatic rings further improves the inhibitory activity. The most promising inhibitor from this new series displayed nanomolar inhibition, boasting an IC50 value of 0.07 µM. This level of potency rivals that of urolithin D and significantly surpasses the effectiveness of urolithin C by an order of magnitude. To better understand the molecular interactions underlying this inhibition, we obtained the crystal structure of one of the inhibitors complexed with PKL. This structural insight served as a valuable reference point, aiding us in the design of inhibitors.

Tuning liver pyruvate kinase activity up or down with a new class of allosteric modulators.

The liver isoform of pyruvate kinase (PKL) has gained interest due to its potential capacity to regulate fatty acid synthesis involved in the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Here we describe a novel series of PKL modulators that can either activate or inhibit the enzyme allosterically, from a cryptic site at the interface of two protomers in the tetrameric enzyme. Starting from urolithin D, we designed and synthesised 42 new compounds. The effect of these compounds on PKL enzymatic activity was assessed after incubation with cell lysates obtained from a liver cell line. Pronounced activation of PKL activity, up to 3.8-fold, was observed for several compounds at 10 µM, while other compounds were prominent PKL inhibitors reducing its activity to 81% at best. A structure-activity relationship identified linear-shaped sulfone-sulfonamides as activators and non-linear compounds as inhibitors. Crystal structures revealed the conformations of these modulators, which were used as a reference for designing new modulators.

Serendipitous Identification of a Covalent Activator of Liver Pyruvate Kinase.

Enzymes are effective biological catalysts that accelerate almost all metabolic reactions in living organisms. Synthetic modulators of enzymes are useful tools for the study of enzymatic reactions and can provide starting points for the design of new drugs. Here, we report on the discovery of a class of biologically active compounds that covalently modifies lysine residues in human liver pyruvate kinase (PKL), leading to allosteric activation of the enzyme (EC50 =0.29 µM). Surprisingly, the allosteric activation control point resides on the lysine residue K282 present in the catalytic site of PKL. These findings were confirmed by structural data, MS/MS experiments, and molecular modelling studies. Altogether, our study provides a molecular basis for the activation mechanism and establishes a framework for further development of human liver pyruvate kinase covalent activators.

Anthraquinone derivatives as ADP-competitive inhibitors of liver pyruvate kinase.

Liver pyruvate kinase (PKL) is a major regulator of metabolic flux and ATP production during liver cell glycolysis and is considered a potential drug target for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In this study, we report the first ADP-competitive PKL inhibitors and identify several starting points for the further optimization of these inhibitors. Modeling and structural biology guided the optimization of a PKL-specific anthraquinone-based compound. A structure-activity relationship study of 47 novel synthetic derivatives revealed PKL inhibitors with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values in the 200 nM range. Despite the difficulty involved in studying a binding site as exposed as the ADP site, these derivatives feature expanded structural diversity and chemical spaces that may be used to improve their inhibitory activities against PKL. The obtained results expand the knowledge of the structural requirements for interactions with the ADP-binding site of PKL.

Antiureolytic Activity of Substituted 2,5-Diaminobenzoquinones.

A series of 2,5-bis(alkyl/arylamino)-1,4-benzoquinones (1-12) were investigated in vitro for their potential to inhibit the activity of jack bean urease. Compounds 1-6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 effectively inhibited the jack bean urease activity by 90.8 % when tested at 5 µm, whereas 7 and 10 had relatively little effect. The IC50 for most compounds was in the nanomolar range (31.4 nm and 36.0 nm for 2 and 8, respectively). The mechanism of enzyme inhibition shown by 2 and 8 is typical of mixed-type inhibitors, whose affinity for the active site is over 6- and 2-fold higher (Ki =30.0 and 22.8 nm, for 2 and 8, respectively) than that of an allosteric site. Molecular docking studies revealed that both 2 and 8 establish hydrogen bonds with the amino acids residues Asp494, Met588, His593 and Ala636 in the active site of jack bean urease. These results indicate that such aminoquinones are useful leads for the development of more efficient urease inhibitors of wider utility.

Tailoring Natural Abenquines To Inhibit the Photosynthetic Electron Transport through Interaction with the D1 Protein in Photosystem II.

Abenquines are natural N-acetylaminobenzoquinones bearing amino acid residues, which act as weak inhibitors of the photosynthetic electron transport chain. Aiming to exploit the abenquine scaffold as a model for the synthesis of new herbicides targeting photosynthesis, 14 new analogues were prepared by replacing the amino acid residue with benzylamines and the acetyl with different acyl groups. The synthesis was accomplished in three steps with a 68-95% overall yield from readily available 2,5-dimethoxyaniline, acyl chlorides, and benzyl amines. Key steps include (i) acylation of the aniline, (ii) oxidation, and (iii) oxidative addition of the benzylamino moiety. The compounds were assayed for their activity as Hill inhibitors, under basal, uncoupled, or phosphorylating conditions, or excluding photosystem I. Four analogues showed high effectiveness (IC50 = 0.1-0.4 µM), comparable with the commercial herbicide diuron (IC50 = 0.3 µM). The data suggest that this class of compounds interfere at the reducing side of photosystem II, having protein D1 as the most probable target. Molecular docking studies with the plastoquinone binding site of Spinacia oleracea further strengthened this proposal.

Leishmanicidal and cytotoxic activity of hederagenin-bistriazolyl derivatives.

Aiming to obtain new potent leishmanicidal and cytotoxic compounds from natural sources, the triterpene hederagenin was converted into several new 1,2,3-triazolyl derivatives tethered at C-23 and C-28. For this work hederagenin was isolated from fruits of Sapindus saponaria and reacted with propargyl bromide to afford as a major product bis-propargylic derivative 1 in 74%. Submitting this compound to Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions with several azides afforded the derivatives 2-19 with yields in the range of 40-87%. All compounds have been screened for in vitro cytotoxic activity in a panel of five human cancer cell lines by a SRB assay. The bioassays showed that compound 19 was the most cytotoxic against all human cancer cell lines with EC50 = 7.4-12.1 µM. Moreover, leishmanicidal activity was evaluated through the in vitro effect in the growth of Leishmania infantum, and derivatives 1, 2, 5 and 17 were highly effective preventing proliferation of intracellular amastigote forms of L. infantum (IC50 = 28.8, 25.9, 5.6 and 7.4 µM, respectively). All these compounds showed a higher selectivity index and low toxicity against two strains of kidney BGM and liver HepG2 cells. Compound 5 has higher selectivity (1780 times) in comparison with the commercial antimony drug and is around 8 times more selective than the most active compound previously reported hederagenin derivative. Such high activity associated with low toxicities make the new bis-traiazolyl derivatives promising candidates for the treatment of leishmaniasis. In addition, hederagenin and some derivatives (2, 5 and 17) showed interaction in the binding site of the enzyme CYP51Li.

Natural Abenquines and Their Synthetic Analogues Exert Algicidal Activity against Bloom-Forming Cyanobacteria.

Abenquines are natural quinones, produced by some Streptomycetes, showing the ability to inhibit cyanobacterial growth in the 1 to 100 µM range. To further elucidate their biological significance, the synthesis of several analogues (4f-h, 5a-h) allowed us to identify some steric and electronic requirements for bioactivity. Replacing the acetyl by a benzoyl group in the quinone core and also changing the amino acid moiety with ethylpyrimidinyl or ethylpyrrolidinyl groups resulted in analogues 25-fold more potent than the natural abenquines. The two most effective analogues inhibited the proliferation of five cyanobacterial strains tested, with IC50 values ranging from 0.3 to 3 µM. These compounds may be useful leads for the development of an effective strategy for the control of cyanobacterial blooms.

Natural abenquines and synthetic analogues: Preliminary exploration of their cytotoxic activity.

In this study, we explore the cytotoxic activity of four natural abenquines (2a-d) and fourteen synthetic analogues (2e-j and 3a-h) against a panel of six human cancer cell lines using a SRB assay. It was found that most of the compounds revealed higher levels of cytotoxic activities than naturally occurring abenquines. The analogues carrying ethylpyrrolidinyl and ethylpyrimidinyl with either an acetyl group (2h-i) or a benzoyl group (3f-g), were the most potent against all human cancer cell lines and displayed EC50 between a range of 0.6-3.4µM. Notably, of the compounds tested, compound 2i proved the most cytotoxic against both ovarian (A2780) and breast (MCF7) cells, showing EC50=0.6 and 0.8µM respectively. Likewise, the analogues 2i, 3f and 3g showed strong activity against cell HT29 with EC50=0.9µM for these compounds.

Amino-substituted para-Benzoquinones as Potential Herbicides.

Although quinones present a large array of biological activities, a few studies on the herbicidal potential of 2,5-bis(alkyl/arylamino)-1,4-benzoquinones have been reported to date. In this work, starting from benzoquinone, 13 2,5-bis(alkyl/arylamino)-1,4-benzoquinones were prepared in 46 - 93% yield. The products were fully characterized by spectroscopic analyses and their phytotoxicity against Cucumis sativus and Sorghum bicolor seedlings was investigated. At 100 ppm, compounds caused 10 - 88% growth inhibition of the dicotyledonous species, whereas the monocotyledon was less affected. Most compounds exerted little inhibitory effect on a cyanobacterial model strain. However, at 100 µm, compounds 8 - 10 caused about 50% inhibition of algal growth, and compounds 1 and 2 reduced cell viability in the 1 - 10 µm range. The ability of benzoquinone derivatives to interfere with the light-driven ferricyanide reduction by isolated spinach chloroplasts was evaluated. Some substances showed a moderate effect as uncouplers, but no relationship was found between this property and their biological activity, indicating that the herbicidal effect is not associated with the inhibition of the photosynthetic electron transport chain. Phytotoxic compounds were not toxic to insects, strengthening the possibility that they may serve as lead for the development of eco-friendly herbicides.