PCSK9 inhibitory activity of marine-derived compounds, aaptaminoids, and benzamide originated from Aaptos aaptos and Acanthaster planci as a potential treatment for atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disorder of the vasculature and one of the underlying causes of cardiovasculardiseases. Numerous preventative and therapeutic approaches are being explored to limit the morbidity and mortalityof this disease. Nevertheless, some of the treatments cost greatly and contributed to various side effects; for example,statin therapy is associated with substantial residual cardiovascular risk as well as issues such as tolerability and patientdependent efficacy. Currently, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor has been attractinginterests in the drug discovery of atherosclerosis treatment, but ezetimibe, a successful PCSK9 inhibitor, is an expensivemonoclonal antibody. Thus, exploring new PCSK9 inhibitors is crucial in overcoming this constraint. In the previouswork, aaptaminoids and methyl benzoate were isolated from marine sponges Aaptos aaptos and Acanthaster planci,respectively. These compounds enhance the transcription of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma(PPARγ) in the luciferase assay. PPARγ agonist was hypothesized to inhibit the expression of the PCSK9 gene becausethe former is a transcription factor toward the latter. The synthesis of three aaptaminoids and 11 methyl benzoatederivative was carried out to address its potential as a PCSK9 inhibitor. The structure of the synthesized compound waselucidated using nuclear magnetic resonance spectral and electron impact mass spectral data. The PCSK9 inhibitoryactivities were determined by luciferase assay. Four aaptaminoids, such as aaptamine, N1,N4-bisbenzylaaptamine,N4-[(3,4,5-trimethoxy)benzyl]aaptamine, and N1-[(3,4,5-trimethoxy)benzyl]aaptamine, and one benzamide derivative,N-(2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-2-yl)-2-methoxybenzamide, were found to inhibit the expression of PCSK9 gene.

Synthesis and in vitro antitumor activity evaluation of chlorogenic acid derivatives / 中草药

Objective: To designe and synthesize the natural chlorogenic acid amide derivatives and evaluate the in vitro antitumor activities of these compounds. Methods: Using chlorogenic acid as starting material, the target compounds were prepared through three steps of protection, condensation, and deprotection reactions. Their antitumor activities of the synthesized target compounds were evaluated for HeLa, HepG2 and HCT-8 cells by MTT assay. Results: Ten chlorogenic acid-substituted benzamide and phenylacetamide derivatives B1-B5, C1-C5 were designed and synthesized. Their structures were determined by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and HR-ESI-MS. MTT assay showed that ten chlorogenic acid derivatives exhibited antitumor activities. Derivative B2 showed good activity against HeLa tumor cells and was superior to the positive control drug cisplatin. All derivatives showed inhibitory effects against HCT-8 tumor cells, and were all better than cisplatin. Conclusion: Ten chlorogenic acid derivatives were new compounds. Some derivatives have good antitumor activity and were deserved further research.

Design, synthesis and biological application of affinity-based small molecular probe for Hsp90 endoplasmic reticulum paralogue of Grp94 / 中国药科大学学报

@#Glucose-regulated protein 94(Grp94), an endoplasmic reticulum resident Hsp90 paralog, has a limited set of client proteins. Selective inhibition of Grp94 has emerged as a new direction for the development of drugs targeting the Hsp90 chaperone system. Now Grp94-Probe, an affinity-based probe of Grp94, was designed and synthesized based on DDO-5813, a most potent Grp94-selective inhibitor we found previously. Using fluorescence polarization(FP)assay and double staining assay with ER-Red in cells, we confirmed the binding of Grp94-Probe with ER Grp94. The FR results showed that the probe exhibited high affinity for Grp94N(EC50=117. 9 nmol/L)without exhibiting obvious Hsp90α inhibition, Moreover, as a fluorescence probe molecule, Grp94-Probe could better distinguish the inhibitory activity of compounds for Grp94N. The results of fluorescence analysis in cells showed that Grp94-Probe could co-stain with ER-Red in the endoplasmic reticulum, and the fluorescence did not decay rapidly with time after 4 h of staining, which further indicated the binding of Grp94-Probe with Grp94 in cells. This Grp94 selective probe can be further used for biology evaluation of Grp94 inhibitor and exploration of Grp94 biological functions.

Mechanism of apoptosis induced by SR1078 activating RORα in ovarian cancer cells / 药学学报

This study was to investigate the effect of RORα activator SR1078 on ovarian cancer cells and its molecular mechanism in vitro. The survival rate of HeyA8 and Hey cells was detected by MTS assay; the apoptosis and cells cycle distribution after SR1078 treatment and the effect of p53 siRNA or PFT-α and PFT-β of p53 inhibitors on SR1078-induced apoptosis of HeyA8 or Hey cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Western blot was used to detect the effect of SR1078 and p53 siRNA on the expression of p53 protein and the effect of p53 inhibitors alone or in combination with SR1078 on the expression of p53, p-p53 and its downstream pro-apoptotic protein Noxa. The results showed that SR1078 significantly reduced the cell viability and induced apoptosis in HeyA8 and Hey cells. In addition, SR1078 up-regulated the protein expression of p53 and Noxa, and p53 suppression led to significant inhibition of SR1078-induced apoptosis and the expression of Noxa in ovarian cancer cells. In summary, SR1078 induced apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells by activation of p53 signaling pathway.

Anti-fatigue activity screening of novel positive allosteric modulators on AMPA receptor / 中国药理学通报

Aim To explore the novel anti-fatigue a-gents targeting AMPA receptor. Methods Three ben-zoic acids of different methoxy substitutions were em-ployed, including piperonylic acid, 3,4,5-trimethoxy benzoic acid and 3,4-dimethoxy benzoic acid, which as mother nucleus and cyclic aliphatic amine or pheny-lpiperazine derivatives were introduced to modify the nitrogen atoms connecting to amino bonds. Forty-three compounds were synthesized and identified by 1 H-NMR. MTT assay, then pentobarbital induced hypno-sis experiment and mice burden swimming experiment were applied respectively to evaluate the new synthesized compounds’ cytotoxicity, CNS excitability and anti-fatigue activity. Results Compound 2j had low cytotoxicity,presenting certain central excitability and significant advantages on anti-fatigue. Conclusion The further development of compounds 2j with good anti-fatigue activities could be cultivated in further study.

Design,Synthesis and Anti-HIV-1 Activity Evaluation of N-Benzamide Derivatives / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To design and synthesize HIV-1 Vif inhibitor RN-18 derivatives and investigate their antiviral activities. METHODS: RN-18 was used as the lead compound, and optimizations were carried out on the two side chains and the middle benzene ring. The anti-HIV-1 activities of the target compounds were analyzed by p24 assay, and the cytotoxicities of compounds with better activities were tested with MTT method. RESULTS: Twenty-eight new derivatives were prepared, and their structures were characterized by MS and 1H-NMR. The activity test showed that the antiviral activities of seven compounds were obviously improved, and the activity of compound 26 was increased to be 11 times higher than that of RN-18, with an EC50 value of 21.8 μmol·L-1. CONCLUSION: Replacing the middle benzene ring of RN-18 with heterocycles generally improves the anti-HIV-1 activity, which provides the basis for further study.

A new benzamide derivative from rice fermentation of Streptomyces sp. CPCC 202950 / 中国中药杂志

Eight compounds were isolated from the rice fermentation of Streptomyces sp. CPCC 202950 by a combination of various chromatographic techniques including column chromatography over silica, Sephadex LH-20, flash C₁₈, and reversed-phase HPLC. Their structures were identified as 3-[(3'-amino-3'-oxoprop-1'-en-2'-yl)oxy]benzamide (1), m-hydroxybenzamide (2), leptosphaepin (3), 5-methyluracil (4), feruloylamide (5), p-hydroxyphenylacetoamide (6), vanillamide (7), cyclo (L-val-L-ala) (8). Among them, 1 was a new benzamide analogue, and 2 was a new natural product. In the preliminary assays, none of the compounds 1-8 exhibited obvious inhibition of HIV-1 protease activity, and toxic with the Hela, HepG2, and U2OS cells. (IC₅₀ > 10 μmol•L⁻¹).

2-Phenitidine derivatives as suitable inhibitors of butyrylcholinesterase

This manuscript reports the synthesis of a series of N-substituted derivatives of 2-phenitidine. First, the reaction of 2-phenitidine (1) with benzene sulfonyl chloride (2) yielded N-(2-ethoxyphenyl) benzenesulfonamide (3), which further on treatment with sodium hydride and alkyl halides (4a-g) furnished into new sulfonamides (5a-g). Second, the phenitidine reacted with benzoyl chloride (6) and acetyl chloride (8) to yield the reported N-benzoyl phenitidine (7) and N-acetyl phenitidine (9), respectively. These derivatives were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, ¹H-NMR, and EI-MS, and then screened against acetylcholinesterase, butylcholinesterase, and lipoxygenase enzyme, and were found to be potent inhibitors of butyrylcholinesterase alone.

Este trabalho apresenta a síntese de uma série de derivados da 2-fenetidina N-substituídos. Primeiro, a reação da 2-fenetidina (1) com cloreto de benzenossulfonila (2) conduziu à N-(2-etoxifenil)benzenossulfonamida (3) que, após tratamento com hidreto de sódio e haletos de alquila (4a-g), originou novas sulfonamidas (5a-g). Em segundo lugar, a reação da fenetidina com cloreto de benzoíla (6) e cloreto de acetila (8) conduziu, respectivamente, à N-benzoilfenetidina (7) e N-acetilfenetidina (9). A caracterização destes derivados fez-se por IV, ¹H-RMN e EM-IE. Procedeu-se à avaliação da atividade inibidora destes compostos em relação às enzimas acetilcolinesterase, butirilcolinesterase e lipoxigenase. No entanto, apenas revelaram atividade inibidora da butirilcolinesterase.

Staurosporine induced poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase independent cell death in Dictyostelium discoideum.

In the present study D. discoideum has been used as a model organism to understand the role of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in caspase independent paraptotic cell death pathways. D. discoideum lacks caspases and Bcl-2 family proteins; nevertheless it has 9 potential genes for PARP. PARP has been known to get activated in various cell death associated diseases. In this study kinetics of cell death induced by staurosporine (STS), a bacterial alkaloid, was established to unravel the role of PARP. It was found that STS induced cell death in D. discoideum did not involve PARP activation, however it involved cathepsin D. Results indicated that an alternative mechanism may be existing in D. discoideum that lacks Bcl-2 family proteins for STS induced cell death that evades Bax involvement.