Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Ester and Ether Derivatives of Antisickling Agent 5-HMF for the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease.

Candidate drugs to counter intracellular polymerization of deoxygenated sickle hemoglobin (Hb S) continue to represent a promising approach to mitigating the primary cause of the pathophysiology associated with sickle cell disease (SCD). One such compound is the naturally occurring antisickling agent, 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (5-HMF), which has been studied in the clinic for the treatment of SCD. As part of our efforts to develop novel efficacious drugs with improved pharmacologic properties, we structurally modified 5-HMF into 12 ether and ester derivatives. The choice of 5-HMF as a pharmacophore was influenced by a combination of its demonstrated attractive hemoglobin modifying and antisickling properties, well-known safety profiles, and its reported nontoxic major metabolites. The derivatives were investigated for their time- and/or dose-dependent effects on important antisickling parameters, such as modification of hemoglobin, corresponding changes in oxygen affinity, and inhibition of red blood cell sickling. The novel test compounds bound and modified Hb and concomitantly increased the protein affinity for oxygen. Five of the derivatives exhibited 1.5- to 4.0-fold higher antisickling effects than 5-HMF. The binding mode of the compounds with Hb was confirmed by X-ray crystallography and, in part, helps explain their observed biochemical properties. Our findings, in addition to the potential therapeutic application, provide valuable insights and potential guidance for further modifications of these (and similar) compounds to enhance their pharmacologic properties.

Inactive mutants of human pyridoxine 5'-phosphate oxidase: a possible role for a noncatalytic pyridoxal 5'-phosphate tight binding site.

Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) is a cofactor for many vitamin B6-requiring enzymes that are important for the synthesis of neurotransmitters. Pyridoxine 5'-phosphate oxidase (PNPO) is one of two enzymes that produce PLP. Some 16 known mutations in human PNPO (hPNPO), including R95C and R229W, lead to deficiency of PLP in the cell and have been shown to cause neonatal epileptic encephalopathy (NEE). This disorder has no effective treatment, and is often fatal unless treated with PLP. In this study, we show that R95C hPNPO exhibits a 15-fold reduction in affinity for the FMN cofactor, a 71-fold decrease in affinity for the substrate PNP, a 4.9-fold decrease in specific activity, and a 343-fold reduction in catalytic activity, compared to the wild-type enzyme. We have reported similar findings for R229W hPNPO. This report also shows that wild-type, R95C and R229W hPNPO bind PLP tightly at a noncatalytic site and transfer it to activate an apo-B6 enzyme into the catalytically active holo-form. We also show for the first time that hPNPO forms specific interactions with several B6 enzymes with dissociation constants ranging from 0.3 to 12.3 µm. Our results suggest a possible in vivo role for the tight binding of PLP in hPNPO, whether wild-type or variant, by protecting the very reactive PLP, and transferring this PLP directly to activate apo-B6 enzymes.