In the Mists of a Fungal Metabolite: An Unexpected Reaction of 2,4,5-Trimethoxyphenylglyoxylic Acid.

The reactions of phenylglyoxylic acids during the synthesis and biological evaluation of fungal metabolites led to the discovery of hitherto unknown compounds with a p-quinone methide (p-QM) structure. The formation of these p-QMs using 13C-labelled starting materials revealed a key-step of this reaction being a retro-Friedel-Crafts alkylation.

Transformation of asiatic acid into a mitocanic, bimodal-acting rhodamine B conjugate of nanomolar cytotoxicity.

Based on their biological activity natural products continue to represent optimal lead structures for the development of novel drug candidates. We focused on the syntheses of several derivatives of the triterpene asiatic acid and on the evaluation of their cytotoxic activity in a photometric sulforhodamin B assay. Especially, benzamide 2 and rhodamine B conjugate 11 show a distinct cytotoxicity for several human tumor cell lines, e.g. EC50 (A2780) = 110 ±â€¯1 nM and EC50 (A2780) = 8 ±â€¯2 nM, respectively. Interestingly, compound 11 showed for two human tumor cell lines (HT29 and 518A2) non-linear, bimodal dose-response relationships.

The ancient CYP716 family is a major contributor to the diversification of eudicot triterpenoid biosynthesis.

Triterpenoids are widespread bioactive plant defence compounds with potential use as pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other high-value products. Enzymes belonging to the cytochrome P450 family have an essential role in creating the immense structural diversity of triterpenoids across the plant kingdom. However, for many triterpenoid oxidation reactions, the corresponding enzyme remains unknown. Here we characterize CYP716 enzymes from different medicinal plant species by heterologous expression in engineered yeasts and report ten hitherto unreported triterpenoid oxidation activities, including a cyclization reaction, leading to a triterpenoid lactone. Kingdom-wide phylogenetic analysis of over 400 CYP716s from over 200 plant species reveals details of their evolution and suggests that in eudicots the CYP716s evolved specifically towards triterpenoid biosynthesis. Our findings underscore the great potential of CYP716s as a source for generating triterpenoid structural diversity and expand the toolbox available for synthetic biology programmes for sustainable production of bioactive plant triterpenoids.

Drotaverine - a Concealed Cytostatic!

Drotaverine (also known as dihydroperparine or No-Spa® ) is an antispasmodic drug closely related to papaverin. Drotaverin also acts as a cytostatic compound for several human tumor cell lines and nonmalignant mouse fibroblasts, and EC50 values as low as 3.0 µM were observed in SRB assays for HT-29 human colorectal carcinoma cells. Small structural changes (e.g., aromatization, benzylic oxidation) led to a reduced activity or a complete loss of cytotoxicity. Staining of the cells with acridine orange showed the cell membrane of the dead cells to be still intact, and a slight G1/G0 arrest in the treated cells was observed after 24 h. Extra annexin V-FITC/PI assays and flow cytometry revealed drotaverine mainly to act as a cytostatic and only to a minor extent as cytotoxic agent.

Repurposing N,N'-bis-(arylamidino)-1,4-piperazinedicarboxamidines: An unexpected class of potent inhibitors of cholinesterases.

Drug repurposing (=drug repositioning) is an effective way to cut costs for the development of new therapeutics and to reduce the time-to-market time-span. Following this concept a small library of compounds was screened for their ability to act as inhibitors of acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase. Picloxydine, an established antiseptic, was shown to be an inhibitor for both enzymes. Systematic variation of the aryl substituents led to analogs possessing almost the same good properties as gold standard galantamine hydrobromide.

Rhodamine B conjugates of triterpenoic acids are cytotoxic mitocans even at nanomolar concentrations.

Triterpenoic acids 1-6 exhibited very low or no cytotoxicity at all, but their corresponding 2,3-di-O-acetyl-piperazinyl amides 13-18 showed low EC50 values for several human tumor cell lines. Their cytotoxicity, however, was also high for the non-malignant mouse fibroblasts NIH 3T3. A significant improvement was achieved by preparing the rhodamine B derivatives 19-24. While rhodamine B is not cytotoxic (up to a concentration of 30µM - cut-off of the assay), the triterpenoid piperazine-spacered rhodamine B derivatives were cytotoxic in nano-molar concentration. Compound 24 (a diacetylated maslinic acid derivative) was most toxic for several human tumor cell lines but less toxic for mouse fibroblasts NIH 3T3. Staining and double-staining experiments revealed 24 to act as a mitocan.

Synthesis and proapoptotic activity of oleanolic acid derived amides.

Thirty-one different 3-O-acetyl-OA derived amides have been prepared and screened for their cytotoxic activity. In the SRB assays nearly all the carboxamides displayed good cytotoxicity in the low µM range for several human tumor cell lines. Low EC50 values were obtained especially for the picolinylamides 14-16, for a N-[2-(dimethylamino)-ethyl] derivative 27 and a N-[2-(pyrrolinyl)-ethyl] carboxamide 28. These compounds were submitted to an extensive biological testing and proved compound 15 to act mainly by an arrest of the tumor cells in the S phase of the cell cycle. Cell death occurred by autophagy while compounds 27 and 28 triggered apoptosis.

Selective killing of cancer cells with triterpenoic acid amides - The substantial role of an aromatic moiety alignment.

2,3-Di-O-acetyl-triterpenoic acid derived amides possessing a (2ß, 3ß) configuration in ring A and two acetyl groups were previously shown to possess high cytotoxicity for human tumor cell lines but to exhibit low cytotoxicity for non-malignant mouse fibroblasts. In this study, augustic acid (1) and 2-epi-corosolic acid (2) were chosen as starting points for the synthesis of analogs. While augustic acid derived 3-quinolinyl amide 9 gave low EC50 values in SRB assays but was cytotoxic for all lines, the isomeric 4-isoquinolinyl amide 21 was very cytotoxic for the tumor cell lines but significantly less cytotoxic for the mouse fibroblasts NIH 3T3. In addition, a triacetylated 4-isoquinolinyl derivative of asiatic acid (28) gave EC50 = 80 nM (for A2780 ovarian cancer cells). As shown by additional experiments (acridine orange/propidium iodide staining, fluorescence spectroscopy and cell cycle investigations) these compounds act mainly by apoptosis.

Urea derivates of ursolic, oleanolic and maslinic acid induce apoptosis and are selective cytotoxic for several human tumor cell lines.

2,3-Di-O-acetyl-maslinic acid benzylamide (5) has previously been shown to possess high cytotoxicity for a variety of human tumor cell lines while being of low cytotoxicity to non-malignant cells. Structural modifications performed on 5 revealed that the presence of these acetyl groups in 5 and the presence of (2ß,3ß)-configurated centers seems necessary for obtaining high cytotoxicity combined with best selectivity between malignant cells and non-malignant mouse fibroblasts. Compounds carrying an ursane skeleton showed weaker cytotoxicity than their oleanane derived analogs. In addition, the benzylamide function in compound 5 should be replaced by a phenylurea moiety to gain better cytotoxicity while retaining and improving the selectivity. Thus, maslinic acid derived N-[2ß,3ß-di-O-acetyl-17ß-amino-28-norolean-12-en-17-yl]phenylurea (45) gave best results showing EC50 = 0.9 µM (for A2780 ovarian cancer cells) with EC50 > 120 µM for fibroblasts (NIH 3T3) and triggered apoptosis while caspase-3 was not activated by this compound.

First Occurrence of a Furano-glycyrrhetinoate and Its Cytotoxicity.

(18α)-Glycyrrhetinic acid (4) was prepared from (18ß)-glycyrrhetinic acid (1), and the cytotoxicity of some derivatives was investigated by photometric SRB assays employing several human tumor cell lines. In summary, (18ß)-1 is slightly more cytotoxic than its (18α) epimer 4, but its cytotoxicity is negligible. Higher cytotoxicity was observed for the esters 2 and 5 and for the 3-O-acetylated esters 3 and 6. Cytotoxicity was improved dramatically when the hydroxyl group at position C-3 was replaced by an amino moiety. SeO2 oxidations gave access to a novel furano-glycyrrhetinoate 15. Interestingly, its seleno analog 16 is approximately five to six times less cytotoxic for the tumor cell lines tested, and tumor/non-tumor selectivity is lost upon replacement of the oxygen by a selenium substituent.

Converting maslinic acid into an effective inhibitor of acylcholinesterases.

During the last decade, maslinic acid has been evaluated for many biological properties, e.g. as an anti-tumor or an anti-viral agent but also as a nutraceutical. The potential of maslinic acid and related derivatives to act as inhibitors of acetyl- or butyryl-cholinesterase was examined in this communication in more detail. Cholinesterases do still represent an interesting group of target enzymes with respect to the investigation and treatment of the Alzheimer's disease and other dementia illnesses as well. Although other triterpenoic acids have successfully been tested for their ability to act as inhibitors of cholinesterases, up to now maslinic acid has not been part of such studies. For this reason, three series of maslinic acid derivatives possessing modifications at different centers were synthesized and subjected to Ellman's assay to determine their inhibitory strength and type of inhibitory action. While parent compound maslinic acid was no inhibitor in these assays, some of the compounds exhibited an inhibition of acetylcholinesterase in the single-digit micro-molar range. Two compounds were identified as inhibitors of butyrylcholinesterase showing inhibition constants comparable to those of galantamine, a drug often used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, additional selectivity as well as cytotoxicity studies were performed underlining the potential of several derivatives and qualifying them for further investigations. Docking studies revealed that the different kinetic behavior within the same compound series may be explained by the ability of the compounds to enter the active site gorge of AChE.

Chemoenzymatic synthesis and cytotoxicity of oenanthotoxin and analogues.

We developed a synthetic scheme for the synthesis of naturally occurring (14R)-oenanthotoxin and several analogs. Key-steps of this synthesis were an efficient homo-coupling of alkynes and a chemoenzymatic resolution of racemic oenanthotoxin using novozyme 435 and vinyl acetate. The compounds were screened for their cytotoxic activity using a photometric sulforhodamine B assays and several human tumor cell lines. Oenanthotoxin and many derivatives thereof were cytotoxic to tumor cell lines as well as to non-malignant mouse fibroblasts. The highest activity was determined for human ovarian cancer cells A2780 with EC50 = 3.8 µM.

Synthesis and cytotoxic activity of pentacyclic triterpenoid sulfamates.

Methyl triterpenoates derived from oleanolic, ursolic, betulinic, glycyrrhetinic, platanic, or maslinic acid were converted into their corresponding sulfamates and carbamoylsulfamates. The sulfamates were screened in photometric sulforhodamine assays for cytotoxic activity employing several human tumor cell lines. Many of the compounds showed EC50 values in one-digit µM concentration. Of special interest seems methyl (3ß) 3-(aminosulfonyloxy)-11-oxo-oleanoate (18) showing good cytotoxicity for the human adenocarcinomic alveolar basal epithelial cell line A549 while being less toxic for non-malignant NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblasts.

Sulfamates of methyl triterpenoates are effective and competitive inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase II.

Carbonic anhydrase II, belonging to one of the most important enzyme groups of the human body, is a well-studied isozyme from the family of the carbonic anhydrases. Since it is involved in several physiological processes, it has been a pharmaceutical target for many years. In this study we synthesized a number of sulfamates derived from pentacyclic methyl triterpenoates, and we demonstrate their potential as carbonic anhydrase II inhibitors using the well-established photometric 4-nitrophenyl acetate assay. Inhibition constants, as an indicator of their inhibition strength, were in the micromolar range; one compound (10, methyl (3ß) 3-(aminosulfonyloxy)-oleanoate) showed a Ki value as low as 0.3 µM. This Ki value is comparable to that of acetazolamide which is a potent carbonic anhydrase inhibitor and a drug for the treatment of glaucoma.

Amino derivatives of glycyrrhetinic acid as potential inhibitors of cholinesterases.

The development of remedies against the Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the biggest challenges in medicinal chemistry nowadays. Although not completely understood, there are several strategies fighting this disease or at least bringing some relief. During the progress of AD, the level of acetylcholine (ACh) decreases; hence, a therapy using inhibitors should be of some benefit to the patients. Drugs presently used for the treatment of AD inhibit the two ACh controlling enzymes, acetylcholinesterase as well as butyrylcholinesterase; hence, the design of selective inhibitors is called for. Glycyrrhetinic acid seems to be an interesting starting point for the development of selective inhibitors. Although its glycon, glycyrrhetinic acid is known for being an AChE activator, several derivatives, altered in position C-3 and C-30, exhibited remarkable inhibition constants in micro-molar range. Furthermore, five representative compounds were subjected to three more enzyme assays (on carbonic anhydrase II, papain and the lipase from Candida antarctica) to gain information about the selectivity of the compounds in comparison to other enzymes. In addition, photometric sulforhodamine B assays using murine embryonic fibroblasts (NiH 3T3) were performed to study the cytotoxicity of these compounds. Two derivatives, bearing either a 1,3-diaminopropyl or a 1H-benzotriazolyl residue, showed a BChE selective inhibition in the single-digit micro-molar range without being cytotoxic up to 30µM. In silico molecular docking studies on the active sites of AChE and BChE were performed to gain a molecular insight into the mode of action of these compounds and to explain the pronounced selectivity for BChE.