Site-directed Mutagenesis of Key Residues Unveiled a Novel Allosteric Site on Human Adenosine Kinase for Pyrrolobenzoxa(thia)zepinone Non-Nucleoside Inhibitors.

Most nucleoside kinases, besides the catalytic domain, feature an allosteric domain which modulates their activity. Generally, non-substrate analogs, interacting with allosteric sites, represent a major opportunity for developing more selective and safer therapeutics. We recently developed a series of non-nucleoside non-competitive inhibitors of human adenosine kinase (hAK), based on a pyrrolobenzoxa(thia)zepinone scaffold. Based on computational analysis, we hypothesized the existence of a novel allosteric site on hAK, topographically distinct from the catalytic site. In this study, we have adopted a multidisciplinary approach including molecular modeling, biochemical studies, and site-directed mutagenesis to validate our hypothesis. Based on a three-dimensional model of interaction between hAK and our molecules, we designed, cloned, and expressed specific, single and double point mutants of hAK (Q74A, Q78A, H107A, K341A, F338A, and Q74A-F338A). Kinetic characterization of recombinant enzymes indicated that these mutations did not affect enzyme functioning; conversely, mutated enzymes are endowed of reduced susceptibility to our non-nucleoside inhibitors, while maintaining comparable affinity for nucleoside inhibitors to the wild-type enzyme. This study represents the first characterization and validation of a novel allosteric site in hAK and may pave the way to the development of novel selective and potent non-nucleoside inhibitors of hAK endowed with therapeutic potential.

Discovery of Multitarget Antivirals Acting on Both the Dengue Virus NS5-NS3 Interaction and the Host Src/Fyn Kinases.

This study describes the discovery of novel dengue virus inhibitors targeting both a crucial viral protein-protein interaction and an essential host cell factor as a strategy to reduce the emergence of drug resistance. Starting from known c-Src inhibitors, a virtual screening was performed to identify molecules able to interact with a recently discovered allosteric pocket on the dengue virus NS5 polymerase. The selection of cheap-to-produce scaffolds and the exploration of the biologically relevant chemical space around them suggested promising candidates for chemical synthesis. A series of purines emerged as the most interesting candidates able to inhibit virus replication at low micromolar concentrations with no significant toxicity to the host cell. Among the identified antivirals, compound 16i proved to be 10 times more potent than ribavirin, showed a better selectivity index and represents the first-in-class DENV-NS5 allosteric inhibitor able to target both the virus NS5-NS3 interaction and the host kinases c-Src/Fyn.

Studies on the ATP Binding Site of Fyn Kinase for the Identification of New Inhibitors and Their Evaluation as Potential Agents against Tauopathies and Tumors.

Fyn is a member of the Src-family of nonreceptor protein-tyrosine kinases. Its abnormal activity has been shown to be related to various human cancers as well as to severe pathologies, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Herein, a structure-based drug design protocol was employed aimed at identifying novel Fyn inhibitors. Two hits from commercial sources (1, 2) were found active against Fyn with K(i) of about 2 µM, while derivative 4a, derived from our internal library, showed a K(i) of 0.9 µM. A hit-to-lead optimization effort was then initiated on derivative 4a to improve its potency. Slightly modifications rapidly determine an increase in the binding affinity, with the best inhibitors 4c and 4d having K(i)s of 70 and 95 nM, respectively. Both compounds were found able to inhibit the phosphorylation of the protein Tau in an Alzheimer's model cell line and showed antiproliferative activities against different cancer cell lines.

Super-telomeres in transformed human fibroblasts.

Telomere length maintenance is critical for organisms' long-term survival and cancer cell proliferation. Telomeres are kept within species-specific length ranges by the interplay between telomerase activity and telomeric chromatin organization. In this paper, we exploited telomerase immortalized human fibroblasts (cen3tel) that gradually underwent neoplastic transformation during culture propagation to study telomere composition and length regulation during the transformation process. Just after telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) expression, cen3tel telomeres shortened despite the presence of telomerase activity. At a later stage and concomitantly with transformation, cells started elongating telomeres, which reached a mean length greater than 100kb in about 900 population doublings. Super-telomeres were stable and compatible with cell growth and tumorigenesis. Telomere extension was associated with increasing levels of telomerase activity that were linked to the deregulation of endogenous telomerase RNA (hTERC) and exogenous telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) expression. Notably, the increase in hTERC levels paralleled the increase in telomerase activity, suggesting that this subunit plays a role in regulating enzyme activity. Telomeres ranging in length between 10 and more than 100kb were maintained in an extendible state although TRF1 and TRF2 binding increased with telomere length. Super-telomeres neither influenced subtelomeric region global methylation nor the expression of the subtelomeric gene FRG1, attesting the lack of a clear-cut relationship between telomere length, subtelomeric DNA methylation and expression in human cells. The cellular levels of the telomeric proteins hTERT, TRF1, TRF2 and Hsp90 rose with transformation and were independent of telomere length, pointing to a role of these proteins in tumorigenesis.

N2-Phenyl-9-(hydroxyalkyl)guanines and related compounds are substrates for Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinases.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 thymidine kinases (TK) are responsible for phosphorylation of antiherpes acyclonucleosides such as acyclovir (ACV) and 9-(4-hydroxybutyl)guanine (HBG). Related compounds, the N2-phenyl-9-(hydroxyalkyl)guanines, are devoid of direct antiviral activity, but potently inhibit the viral TKs and block viral reactivation from latency in vivo. The similarity in structure between the acyclonucleosides and TK inhibitors raised the question of the relevance of phosphorylation of certain of the latter analogs in their mechanisms of action. Using recombinant TKs and HPLC analysis of reaction mixtures, we report that the lead TK inhibitor N2-phenyl-9 -(4-hydroxybutyl)guanine (HBPG) and its pentyl homolog (HPnPG) are excellent substrates for the enzymes, approaching the efficiency with which the natural substrate thymidine is phosphorylated, and significantly better than ACV or HBG. Other 9-hydroxyalkyl congeners are substrates for the enzymes, but with much poorer efficiency. HBPG triphosphate was a poor inhibitor of HSV DNA polymerase, the target of acyclonucleoside triphosphates, suggesting that phosphorylation of HBPG is not important in its mechanism of blocking viral reactivation in vivo. The fact that HBPG is an efficient substrate is consistent, however, with its binding mode based both on molecular modeling studies and x-ray structure of the HBPG:TK complex.

Enantioselective binding of second generation pyrrolobenzoxazepinones to the catalytic ternary complex of HIV-1 RT wild-type and L100I and K103N drug resistant mutants.

We investigated some pyrrolobenzoxazepinone (PBOs, 3e-i) analogues of early described effective non-nucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT). Enzymological studies of 3e-i enantiomers, with wild type (wt) RT and some drug-resistant mutants, revealed a stereoselective mode of action and selectivity for RT ternary complex. Unexpectedly (+)-3g was found more potent towards the L100I mutant than towards the wt RT, whereas (+)-3h inhibited the K103N mutant and RT wt with comparable potency.

Non-nucleoside inhibitors of human adenosine kinase: synthesis, molecular modeling, and biological studies.

Adenosine kinase (AK) catalyzes the phosphorylation of adenosine (Ado) to AMP by means of a kinetic mechanism in which the two substrates Ado and ATP bind the enzyme in a binary and/or ternary complex, with distinct protein conformations. Most of the described inhibitors have Ado-like structural motifs and are nonselective, and some of them (e.g., the tubercidine-like ligands) are characterized by a toxic profile. We have cloned and expressed human AK (hAK) and searched for novel non-substrate-like inhibitors. Our efforts to widen the structural diversity of AK inhibitors led to the identification of novel non-nucleoside, noncompetitive allosteric modulators characterized by a unique molecular scaffold. Among the pyrrolobenzoxa(thia)zepinones (4a-qq) developed, 4a was identified as a non-nucleoside prototype hAK inhibitor. 4a has proapoptotic efficacy, slight inhibition of short-term RNA synthesis, and cytostatic activity on tumor cell lines while showing low cytotoxicity and no significant adverse effects on short-term DNA synthesis in cells.

Clostridium difficile DNA polymerase IIIC: basis for activity of antibacterial compounds.

Based on the finding that aerobic Gram-positive antibacterials that inhibit DNA polymerase IIIC (pol IIIC) were potent inhibitors of the growth of anaerobic Clostridium difficile (CD) strains, we chose to clone and express the gene for pol IIIC from this organism. The properties of the recombinant enzyme are similar to those of related pol IIICs from Gram-positive aerobes, e.g. B. subtilis. Inhibitors of the CD enzyme also inhibited B. subtilis pol IIIC, and were competitive with respect to the cognate substrate 2'-deoxyguanosine 5'-triphosphate (dGTP). Significantly, several of these inhibitors of the CD pol IIIC had potent activity against the growth of CD clinical isolates in culture.

Sensitivity of monkey B virus (Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1) to antiviral drugs: role of thymidine kinase in antiviral activities of substrate analogs and acyclonucleosides.

Herpes B virus (B virus [BV]) is a macaque herpesvirus that is occasionally transmitted to humans where it can cause rapidly ascending encephalitis that is often fatal. To understand the low susceptibility of BV to the acyclonucleosides, we have cloned, expressed, and characterized the BV thymidine kinase (TK), an enzyme that is expected to "activate" nucleoside analogs. This enzyme is similar in sequence and properties to the TK of herpes simplex virus (HSV), i.e., it has a broad substrate range and low enantioselectivity and is sensitive to inhibitors of HSV TKs. The BV enzyme phosphorylates some modified nucleosides and acyclonucleosides and l enantiomers of thymidine and related antiherpetic analogs. However, the potent anti-HSV drugs acyclovir (ACV), ganciclovir (GCV), and 5-bromovinyldeoxyuridine were poorly or not phosphorylated by the BV enzyme under the experimental conditions. The antiviral activities of a number of marketed antiherpes drugs and experimental compounds were compared against BV strains and, for comparison, HSV type 1 (HSV-1) in Vero cell cultures. For most compounds tested, BV was found to be about as sensitive as HSV-1 was. However, BV was less sensitive to ACV and GCV than HSV-1 was. The abilities of thymidine analogs and acyclonucleosides to inhibit replication of BV in Vero cell culture were not always proportional to their substrate properties for BV TK. Our studies characterize BV TK for the first time and suggest new lead compounds, e.g., 5-ethyldeoxyuridine and pencyclovir, which may be superior to ACV or GCV as treatment for this emerging infectious disease.

Simplified analogues of immucillin-G retain potent human purine nucleoside phosphorylase inhibitory activity.

A set of deazaguanine derivatives 1-3 targeting human purine nucleoside phosphorylase (hPNP) have been designed and synthesized. The new compounds are characterized by the presence of a structurally simplified "azasugar" motif to be more easily accessible by chemical synthesis than previous inhibitors. In the enzymatic assays, some of the new derivatives proved to be able to inhibit hPNP at low nanomolar concentration, thereby showing the same inhibitory potency in vitro as immucillin-H (IMH). Molecular docking experiments revealed a binding mode to hPNP essentially identical to that of IMH. As a result, the lower in vivo activity exhibited by 1d, compared with that exhibited by IMH, might be ascribed to differences in the pharmacokinetic, rather than pharmacodynamic, profile between these compounds. Derivatives 1a, 1d, and 2c emerged as the most active compounds within this new set and may represent interesting leads in the search for novel hPNP inhibitors.

Inhibition of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinases by 2-phenylamino-6-oxopurines and related compounds: structure-activity relationships and antiherpetic activity in vivo.

Derivatives of the herpes simplex thymidine kinase inhibitor HBPG [2-phenylamino-9-(4-hydroxybutyl)-6-oxopurine] have been synthesized and tested for inhibitory activity against recombinant enzymes (TK) from herpes simplex types 1 and 2 (HSV-1, HSV-2). The compounds inhibited phosphorylation of [3H]thymidine by both enzymes, but potencies differed quantitatively from those of HBPG and were generally greater for HSV-2 than HSV-1 TKs. Changes in inhibitory potency were generally consistent with the inhibitor/substrate binding site structure based on published X-ray structures of HSV-1 TK. In particular, several 9-(4-aminobutyl) analogues with bulky tertiary amino substituents were among the most potent inhibitors. Variable substrate assays showed that the most potent compound, 2-phenylamino-9-[4-(1-decahydroquinolyl)butyl]-6-oxopurine, was a competitive inhibitor, with Ki values of 0.03 and 0.005 microM against HSV-1 and HSV-2 TKs, respectively. The parent compound HBPG was uniquely active in viral infection models in mice, both against ocular HSV-2 reactivation and against HSV-1 and HSV-2 encephalitis. In assays lacking [3H]thymidine, HBPG was found to be an efficient substrate for the enzymes. The ability of the TKs to phosphorylate HBPG may relate to its antiherpetic activity in vivo.

Microwave-assisted synthesis and biological evaluation of novel uracil derivatives inhibiting human thymidine phosphorylase.

New 5-chloro-6-substituted-uracil derivatives have been prepared by microwave assisted-synthesis and tested in vitro as thymidine phosphorylase inhibitors. One of these compounds showed potent inhibitory activity, with an IC50 value in the submicromolar range. The biological activity of the new compounds is discussed in terms of structure-activity relationship.

Enantioselectivity of ribonucleotide reductase: a first study using stereoisomers of pyrimidine 2'-azido-2'-deoxynucleosides.

In this paper, the enantioselectivity of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR, EC 1.17.4.1), a pivotal enzyme involved in DNA biosynthesis, was studied using the beta-d and beta-l stereoisomers of 2'-azido-2'-deoxynucleosides of uracil and cytosine. The corresponding 5'-diphosphate derivatives in the d-configuration have been extensively studied as mechanism-based inhibitors of the enzyme. The original l-enantiomers were synthesized and evaluated in vitro. In cell culture experiments, only the cytosine derivative with a d-configuration was found cytostatic and able to deplete dNTP pools in response to RNR inhibition. In the case of the uracil enantiomeric pair, this result correlates with an inefficient intracellular monophosphorylation as demonstrated in testing their substrate properties against human uridine-cytidine kinase 1. Regarding cytosine analogues, human deoxycytidine kinase was found to be able to phosphorylate both enantiomers with comparable efficiency but only the d-stereoisomer was active in human cell culture. The interaction of the beta-d and beta-l stereoisomers of 2'-azido-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-diphosphate with purified Escherichia coli RNR was also examined. Inactivation of the enzyme was only observed in the presence of the d-stereoisomer, demonstrating that RNR exhibits enantiospecificity with respect to the natural configuration of the sugar moiety, as far as 2'-azido-2'-deoxynucleotides are concerned.