Pan-Cancer Analysis of PGAM1 and Its Experimental Validation in Uveal Melanoma Progression.

Phosphoglycerate mutase 1 (PGAM1) is a key enzyme regulating cancer glycolysis. However, the expression and function of PGAM1 in uveal melanoma (UVM) are unknown and systematic analysis is lacking. This study performed a comprehensive analysis of PGAM1 expression across 33 cancer types in multiple public databases. Results demonstrated PGAM1 is aberrantly overexpressed in most tumors compared to normal tissues, and this overexpression is associated with poor prognosis, advanced tumor staging, and aggressive clinical phenotypes in multiple cancers including UVM, lung, breast and bladder carcinomas. In addition, PGAM1 expression positively correlated with infiltration levels of tumor-promoting immune cells including macrophages, NK cells, myeloid dendritic cells, etc. Further experiments showed that PGAM1 was overexpressed in UVM cell lines and tissues, and it was positively associated with a poor prognosis of UVM patients. And knockdown of PGAM1 inhibited migration/invasion and induced apoptosis in UVM cells, followed by decreased levels of PD-L1, Snail, and BCl-2 and increased levels of E-cadherin. Additionally, the correlation analysis and molecular docking results suggest that PGAM1 could interact with PD-L1, Snail and BCl-2. Thus, PGAM1 may promote UVM pathogenesis via modulating immune checkpoint signaling, EMT and apoptosis. Collectively, this study reveals PGAM1 as a valuable prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target in aggressive cancers including UVM.

Design, synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of novel 3-O-substituted 15-membered azalides possessing 1,2,3-triazole side chains.

The acquired and intrinsic resistance of bacteria to macrolide antibiotics limits the clinical application of these agents, and thus it is particularly important to discover novel macrolide antibiotics that can be administered to counteract the prevalence of bacterial resistance. In this study, we introduced some active 1,2,3-triazole side chains into the azithromycin at position 3-O, thereby obtaining a number of 3-O-substituted 15-membered azalides. Determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of these target compounds revealed that the compound 9g possessed the strongest antibacterial activity (MIC = 8-16 µg/mL) against drug-resistant strains and was generally 16- to 32-fold more active than the azithromycin (MIC ≥ 256 µg/mL). Combined analysis of the results of antibacterial activity together with theoretically calculated lipid/water partition coefficients (ClogP) indicated the importance of the chemical nature of the alkyl groups attached to the 1,2,3-triazole side chain in conferring promising antibacterial activity. The findings of molecular docking analyses indicated that compound 9g may bind to the A752 base of 23S rRNA in bacterial ribosome via hydrophobic or electrostatic interactions, resulting in the excellent antibacterial activity of this compound. Furthermore, the data of minimum bactericidal concentration revealed that compounds 9e, 9f, 9g and 9h are excellent bacteriostatic agents. In addition, the study of bactericidal kinetics confirmed that compound 9g is a time- and concentration-dependent agent.

Design, synthesis and structure-activity relationships of novel N11-, C12- and C13-substituted 15-membered homo-aza-clarithromycin derivatives against various resistant bacteria.

Bacterial infections are still the main significant problem of public health in the world, and their elimination will greatly rely on the discovery of antibacterial drugs. In the processes of our searching for novel macrolide derivatives with excellent activity against sensitive and resistant bacteria, three series of novel N11-, C12- and C13-substituted 15-membered homo-aza-clarithromycin derivatives were designed and synthesized as Series A, B and C by creatively opening the lactone ring of clarithromycin (CAM), introducing various 4-substituted phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole side chains at the N11, C12 or C13 position of CAM and macrolactonization. The results from their in vitro antibacterial activity demonstrated that compounds 20c, 20d and 20f displayed not only the most potent activity against S. aureus ATCC25923 with the MIC values of 0.5, 0.5 and 0.5 µg/mL, but also greatly improved activity against B. subtilis ATCC9372 with the MIC values of less than or equal to 0.25, 0.25 and 0.25 µg/mL, respectively. In particular, compound 11g exhibited the strongest antibacterial effectiveness against all the tested resistant bacterial strains and had well balanced activity with the MIC values of 4-8 µg/mL. Further study on minimum bactericidal concentration and kinetics confirmed that compound 11g possessed a bacteriostatic effect on bacterial proliferation. Moreover, the results of molecular docking revealed an potential additional binding force between compound 11g and U790 in addition to the normal binding force of macrolide skeleton, which may explain why this compound performed the most potent activity against resistant bacteria. The results of cytotoxic assay indicated that compounds 20c, 20d and 20f were non-toxic to human breast cancer MCF-7 cells at its effective antibacterial concentration.

Discovery of novel antibacterial agents: Recent developments in D-alanyl-D-alanine ligase inhibitors.

Bacterial infections can cause serious problems that threaten public health over a long period of time. Moreover, the continuous emergence of drug-resistant bacteria necessitates the development of novel antibacterial agents. D-alanyl-D-alanine ligase (Ddl) is an indispensable adenosine triphosphate-dependent bacterial enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan precursor, which catalyzes the ligation of two D-alanine molecules into one D-alanyl-D-alanine dipeptide. This dipeptide is an essential component of the intracellular peptidoglycan precursor, uridine diphospho-N-acetylmuramic acid (UDP-MurNAc)-pentapeptide, that maintains the integrity of the bacterial cell wall by cross-linking the peptidoglycan chain, and is crucial for the survival of pathogens. Consequently, Ddl is expected to be a promising target for the development of antibacterial agents. In this review, we present a brief introduction regarding the structure and function of Ddl, as well as an overview of the various Ddl inhibitors currently being used as antibacterial agents, specifically highlighting their inhibitory activities, structure-activity relationships and mechanisms of action.

Design, synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of novel C-11, C-9 or C-2'-substituted 3-O-descladinosyl-3-ketoclarithromycin derivatives.

A novel series of 3-O-descladinosyl-3-keto-clarithromycin derivatives, including 11-O-carbamoyl-3-O-descladinosyl-3-keto-clarithromycin derivatives and 2',9(S)-diaryl-3-O-descladinosyl-3-keto-clarithromycin derivatives, were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity. Among them, some derivatives were found to have activity against resistant bacteria strains. In particular, compound 9b showed not only the most significantly improved activity (16 µg/mL) against S. aureus ATCC43300 and S. aureus ATCC31007, which was >16-fold more active than that of CAM and AZM, but also the best activity against S. pneumoniae B1 and S. pyogenes R1, with MIC values of 32 and 32 µg/mL. In addition, compounds 9a, 9c, 9d and 9g exhibited the most effective activity against S. pneumoniae AB11 with MIC values of 32 or 64 µg/mL as well. Unfortunately, 2',9(S)-diaryl-3-O-descladinosyl-3-keto-clarithromycin derivatives failed to exhibit better antibacterial activity than references. It can be seen that the combined modification of the C-3 and C-11 positions of clarithromycin is beneficial to improve activity against resistant bacteria, while the single modification of the C-2'' position is very detrimental to antibacterial activity.

Design, synthesis of novel 4,5-dihydroisoxazole-containing benzamide derivatives as highly potent FtsZ inhibitors capable of killing a variety of MDR Staphylococcus aureus.

Antibiotic resistance among clinically significant bacterial pathogens, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) is becoming a prevalent threat to public health, and new antibacterial agents with novel mechanisms of action hence are in an urgent need. As a part of continuing effort to develop antibacterial agents, we rationally designed and synthesized two series of 4,5-dihydroisoxazol-5-yl and 4,5-dihydroisoxazol-3-yl-containing benzamide derivatives that targeted the bacterial cell division protein FtsZ. Evaluation of their activity against a panel of Gram-positive and -negative pathogens revealed that compound A16 possessing the 4,5-dihydroisoxazol-5-yl group showed outstanding antibacterial activity (MIC, ≤0.125-0.5 µg/mL) against various testing strains, including methicillin-resistant, penicillin-resistant and clinical isolated S. aureus strains. Besides, further mouse infection model revealed that A16 could be effective in vivo and non-toxic to Hela cells. Finally, a detailed discussion of structure-activity relationships was conducted, referring to the docking results. It is worth noting that substituting a 4,5-dihydroisoxazole ring for the isoxazole ring not only broadened the antibacterial spectrum but also resulted in a significant increase in antibacterial activity against S. aureus strains. Taken together, these results suggest a promising chemotype for the development of new FtsZ-targeting bactericidal agents.

Design and synthesis of aryl-substituted pyrrolidone derivatives as quorum sensing inhibitors.

Quorum sensing, a common cell-to-cell communication system, is considered to have promising application in antibacterial therapy since they are expected to induce lower bacterial resistance than conventional antibiotics. However, most of present quorum sensing inhibitors have potent cell toxicity, which limits their application. In this study we evaluated the diverse quorum sensing inhibition activities of different biaromatic furanones and brominated pyrrolones. On this basis, we further designed and synthesized a new series of aryl-substituted pyrrolones 12a-12f. In the quorum sensing inhibition assay, compound 12a showed improved characteristics and low toxicity against human hepatocellular carcinoma cell. In particular, it can inhibit the pyocyanin production and protease activity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by 80.6 and 78.5%, respectively. Besides, in this series, some compounds exerted moderate biofilm inhibition activity. To sum up, all the findings indicate that aryl-substituted pyrrolidone derivatives are worth further investigation as quorum sensing inhibitors.

A novel series of 11-O-carbamoyl-3-O-descladinosyl clarithromycin derivatives bearing 1,2,3-triazole group: Design, synthesis and antibacterial evaluation.

A series of novel 11-O-carbamoyl-3-O-descladinosyl clarithromycin derivatives bearing the 1,2,3-triazole group were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity. The antibacterial results indicated that most of the target compounds not only increased their activity against resistant bacterial strains, but also partially retained the activity against sensitive bacterial strains compared with clarithromycin. Among them, 13d had the best antibacterial activity against resistant strains, including Streptococcus pneumoniae B1 expressing the ermB gene (16 µg/mL), Streptococcus pneumoniae AB11 expressing the mefA and ermB genes (16 µg/mL) and Streptococcus pyogenes R1 (16 µg/mL), showing >16, 8 and 16-fold higher activity than that of CAM, respectively. Moreover, 13d and 13g exhibited the best antibacterial activity against sensitive bacterial strains, including Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 (4 µg/mL) and Bacillus Subtilis ATCC9372 (1 µg/mL). The MBC results showed that the most promising compounds 13d and 13g exhibited antibacterial activity through bacteriostatic mechanism, while the time-kill kinetic experiment revealed bactericidal kinetics of 13g from microscopic point of view. In vitro antibacterial experiments and molecular docking results further confirmed that it was feasible to our initial design strategy by modifying the C-3 and C-11 positions of clarithromycin to increase the activity against resistant bacteria.

Structural optimization of natural product nordihydroguaretic acid to discover novel analogues as AcrB inhibitors.

Drug efflux pumps confer multidrug resistance to dangerous bacterial pathogens which makes these proteins promising drug targets. Herein, we present initial chemical optimization and structure-activity relationship (SAR) data around a previously described efflux pump inhibitor, nordihydroguaretic acid (NDGA). Four series of novel NDGA analogues that target Escherichia coli AcrB were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their ability to potentiate the activity of antibiotics, to inhibit AcrB-mediated substrate efflux and reduce off-target activity. Nine novel structures were identified that increased the efficacy of a panel of antibiotics, inhibited drug efflux and reduced permeabilization of the bacterial outer and inner membranes. Among them, WA7, WB11 and WD6 possessing broad-spectrum antimicrobial sensitization activity were identified as NDGA analogues with favorable properties as potential AcrB inhibitors, demonstrating moderate improvement in potency as compared to NDGA. In particular, WD6 was the most broadly active analogue improving the activity of all four classes of antibacterials tested.

Design, synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of novel 15-membered 11a-azahomoclarithromycin derivatives with the 1, 2, 3-triazole side chain.

Macrolides are widely prescribed in clinic to treat various respiratory tract infections. However, due to their inappropriate use, the prevalence of macrolide-resistant strains among clinical isolates has become a concern for public health. Therefore, novel macrolides skeleton structures against resistant pathogens are badly needed. Thus, three series of novel 15-membered 11a-azahomoclarithromycin derivatives (series A-C) with the 1, 2, 3-triazole side chain were designed and synthesized through creatively opening the ring of clarithromycin (CAM), expanding the ring properly and introducing a suitable side chain of 1, 2, 3-triazole at the C12 and C13 positions, and evaluated for their antibacterial activity. The antibacterial results indicated that compounds 38b, 38l and 38v possessed strong antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 (0.25 µg/mL) and Bacillus subtilis ATCC9372 (0.25 µg/mL). Furthermore, compounds 9e and 38g were found to exhibit promising potent activity (8 µg/mL) against Streptococcus pneumonia AB11 expressing the ermB and mefA genes. In addition, the determination of minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) indicated that the most promising compounds 38b, 38l, 38v, 9e and 38g were excellent bacteriostatic agents. The bactericidal curve showed that 9e exhibited antibacterial activity through bacteriostatic mechanism. Finally, 38b, 38l and 38v were confirmed to be non-toxic to MCF-7 breast cancer cells up to a concentration of 32 µg/mL in preliminary cytotoxicity assay. In summary, 38b, 38l, 38v, 9e and 38g can be served as lead compounds to provide a new perspective for further structural optimization.

Discovery of 1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-one-containing benzamide derivatives targeting FtsZ as highly potent agents of killing a variety of MDR bacteria strains.

The spread of infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA), has created a need for new antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action. The bacterial division protein FtsZ has been identified as a novel drug target that can be exploited clinically. As part of an ongoing effort to develop FtsZ-targeting antibacterial agents, we describe herein the design, synthesis and bioactivity of six series of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-one-containing, 1,2,4-triazol-3-one-containing and pyrazolin-5-one-containing benzamide derivatives. Among them, compound A14 was found to be the most potent antibacterial agent, much better than clinical drugs such as ciprofloxacin, linezolid and erythromycin against all the tested gram-positive strains, particularly methicillin-resistant, penicillin-resistant and clinical isolated S. aureus. Subsequent studies on biological activities and docking analyses proved that A14 functioned as an effective compound targeting FtsZ. Preliminary SAR indicated a general direction for further optimization of these novel analogues. Taken together, this research provides a promising chemotype for developing newer FtsZ-targeting bactericidal agents.