The proof of concept of 2-{3-[N-(1-benzylpiperidin-4-yl)propyl]amino}-6-[N-methyl-N-(prop-2-yn-1-yl)amino]-4-phenylpyridine-3,5-dicarbonitrile for the therapy of neuropathic pain.

In the search for new small molecules for the therapy of neuropathic pain, we found that 2-{3-[N-(1-benzylpiperidin-4-yl)propyl]amino}-6-[N-methyl-N-(prop-2-yn-1-yl)amino]-4-phenylpyridine-3,5-dicarbonitrile (12) induced a robust antiallodynic effect in capsaicin-induced mechanical allodynia, a behavioural model of central sensitization, through σ1R antagonism. Furthermore, administration of compound 12 to neuropathic animals, fully reversed mechanical allodynia, increasing its mechanical threshold to levels that were not significantly different from those found in paclitaxel-vehicle treated mice or from basal levels before neuropathy was induced. Ligand 12 is thus a promising hit-compound for the therapy of neuropathic pain.

Safe and Efficient Sigma1 Ligand: A Potential Drug Candidate for Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Current management strategies suppress or modulate immune function, all with consequences and known side effects. They demonstrate a high level of success in limiting new relapses. However, the neurodegenerative process still affects both grey and white matter in the central nervous system. The sigma1 (S1R) ligand-regulated chaperone is implicated in many biological processes in various CNS-targeted diseases, acting on neural plasticity, myelination and neuroinflammation. Among the proteins involved in MS, S1R has therefore emerged as a promising new target. Standard and robust methods have been adopted to analyze the adsorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion (ADME) properties, safety pharmacology and toxicology of a previously synthetized simple benzamide-derived compound with nanomolar affinity for S1R, high selectivity, no cytotoxicity and good metabolic stability. The compound was also characterized as an agonist based on well-validated assays prior to in vivo investigations. Interestingly, we found that the oral administration of this compound resulted in an overall significant reduction in clinical progression in an MS experimental model. This effect is mediated through S1R action. Our results further suggest the potential use of this compound in the treatment of MS.

Repositioning of FDA-Approved antifungal agents to interrogate Acyl-CoA synthetase long chain family member 4 (ACSL4) in ferroptosis.

Ferroptosis, first coined in 2012, is an iron-dependent regulated cell death (RCD) characterized by the accumulation of lipid peroxides to toxic levels. This mechanism is currently being evaluated as a target for a variety of diseases offering new opportunities for drug design and development. Recent reports uncovered acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain 4 (ACSL4) as a critical contributor to ferroptosis execution. Therefore, ACSL4 inhibitors are emerging as attractive anti-ferroptotic agents. Herein, we developed a robust screening cascade with orthogonal biophysical and biochemical techniques to identify original human ACSL4 inhibitors. By screening an FDA-approved drug library, we were able to identify and validate new inhibitors with micromolar-range activities against ACSL4. With an IC50 of 280 nM against hACSL4, antifungal agent sertaconazole is to our knowledge, the most potent ACSL4 inhibitor identified so far. In addition, sertaconazole significantly reduced lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis in human differentiated dopaminergic neurons (Lund human mesencephalic LUHMES cells), demonstrating that it is a valuable chemical tool for further investigating the role of ACSL4 in ferroptosis. This study highlights the phenethyl-imidazole scaffold as a novel and promising starting point for the development of anti-ferroptotic agents targeting ACSL4.

High ligand efficiency quinazoline compounds as novel A2A adenosine receptor antagonists.

The past fifty years have been marked by the surge of neurodegenerative diseases. Unfortunately, current treatments are only symptomatic. Hence, the search for new and innovative therapeutic targets for curative treatments becomes a major challenge. Among these targets, the adenosine A2A receptor (A2AAR) has been the subject of much research in recent years. In this paper, we report the design, synthesis and pharmacological analysis of quinazoline derivatives as A2AAR antagonists with high ligand efficiency. This class of molecules has been discovered by a virtual screening and bears no structural semblance with reference antagonist ZM-241385. More precisely, we identified a series of 2-aminoquinazoline as promising A2AAR antagonists. Among them, one compound showed a high affinity towards A2AAR (21a, Ki = 20 nM). We crystallized this ligand in complex with A2AAR, confirming one of our predicted docking poses and opening up possibilities for further optimization to derive selective ligands for specific adenosine receptor subtypes.

Unravelling the Allosteric Targeting of PHGDH at the ACT-Binding Domain with a Photoactivatable Diazirine Probe and Mass Spectrometry Experiments.

The serine biosynthetic pathway is a key element contributing to tumor proliferation. In recent years, targeting of phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH), the first enzyme of this pathway, intensified and revealed to be a promising strategy to develop new anticancer drugs. Among attractive PHGDH inhibitors are the α-ketothioamides. In previous work, we have demonstrated their efficacy in the inhibition of PHGDH in vitro and in cellulo. However, the precise site of action of this series, which would help the rational design of new inhibitors, remained undefined. In the present study, the detailed mechanism-of-action of a representative α-ketothioamide inhibitor is reported using several complementary experimental techniques. Strikingly, our work led to the identification of an allosteric site on PHGDH that can be targeted for drug development. Using mass spectrometry experiments and an original α-ketothioamide diazirine-based photoaffinity probe, we identified the 523Q-533F sequence on the ACT regulatory domain of PHGDH as the binding site of α-ketothioamides. Mutagenesis experiments further documented the specificity of our compound at this allosteric site. Our results thus pave the way for the development of new anticancer drugs using a completely novel mechanism-of-action.

Publisher Correction: MUC4-ErbB2 Oncogenic Complex: Binding studies using Microscale Thermophoresis.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Structure-Activity Relationships (SARs) of α-Ketothioamides as Inhibitors of Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase (PHGDH).

For many years now, targeting deregulation within cancer cells' metabolism has appeared as a promising strategy for the development of more specific and efficient cancer treatments. Recently, numerous reports highlighted the crucial role of the serine synthetic pathway, and particularly of the phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH), the first enzyme of the pathway, to sustain cancer progression. Yet, because of very weak potencies usually in cell-based settings, the inhibitors reported so far failed to lay ground on the potential of this approach. In this paper, we report a structure-activity relationship study of a series of α-ketothioamides that we have recently identified. Interestingly, this study led to a deeper understanding of the structure-activity relationship (SAR) in this series and to the identification of new PHGDH inhibitors. The activity of the more potent compounds was confirmed by cellular thermal shift assays and in cell-based experiments. We hope that this research will eventually provide a new entry point, based on this promising chemical scaffold, for the development of therapeutic agents targeting PHGDH.

MUC4-ErbB2 Oncogenic Complex: Binding studies using Microscale Thermophoresis.

The MUC4 membrane-bound mucin is a large O-glycoprotein involved in epithelial homeostasis. At the cancer cell surface MUC4 interacts with ErbB2 receptor via EGF domains to promote cell proliferation and migration. MUC4 is highly regarded as a therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer as it is not expressed in healthy pancreas, while it is neoexpressed in early preneoplastic stages (PanINs). However, the association/dissociation constant of MUC4-ErbB2 complex is unknown. Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) have become a major area of research in the past years and the characterization of their interactions, especially by biophysical methods, is intensively used in drug discovery. To characterize the MUC4-ErbB2 interaction, we used MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST), a powerful method for quantitative protein interaction analysis under challenging conditions. We worked with CHO cell lysates containing either the transmembrane ß subunit of MUC4 (MUC4ß) or a truncated mutant encompassing only the EGF domains (MUC4EGF3+1+2). MST studies have led to the characterization of equilibrium dissociation constants (Kd) for MUC4ß-ErbB2 (7-25 nM) and MUC4EGF3+1+2/ErbB2 (65-79 nM) complexes. This work provides new information regarding the MUC4-ErbB2 interaction at the biophysical level and also confirms that the presence of the three EGF domains of MUC4 is sufficient to provide efficient interaction. This technological approach will be very useful in the future to validate small molecule binding affinities targeting MUC4-ErbB2 complex for drug discovery development in cancer. It will also be of high interest for the other known membrane mucins forming oncogenic complexes with ErbBs at the cancer cell surface.

Anti-alcohol abuse drug disulfiram inhibits human PHGDH via disruption of its active tetrameric form through a specific cysteine oxidation.

Due to rising costs and the difficulty to identify new targets, drug repurposing appears as a viable strategy for the development of new anti-cancer treatments. Although the interest of disulfiram (DSF), an anti-alcohol drug, to treat cancer was reported for many years, it is only very recently that one anticancer mechanism-of-action was highlighted. This would involve the inhibition of the p97 segregase adaptor NPL4, which is essential for the turnover of proteins involved in multiple regulatory and stress-response intracellular pathways. However, recently DSF was also reported as one of the first phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) inhibitors, a tetrameric enzyme catalyzing the initial step of the serine synthetic pathway that is highly expressed in numerous cancer types. Here, we investigated the structure-activity relationships (SAR) of PHGDH inhibition by disulfiram analogues as well as the mechanism of action of DSF on PHGDH via enzymatic and cell-based evaluation, mass spectrometric and mutagenesis experiments.

Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of benzamide derivatives as potent and selective sigma-1 protein ligands.

A series of novel benzamide-derived compounds was designed, synthesized and pharmacologically evaluated. Among all 37 synthesized compounds, two series were developed with the modulation of the nature, the position of atoms or groups on the benzamide scaffold, but also the nature of the amine group separated from the benzamide with 2, 3 or 4 methylene groups. In vitro competition binding assays against sigma proteins (sigma-1 S1R and sigma-2 S2R) revealed that most of them conferred S2R/S1R selectivity toward without cytotoxic effects on SY5Y cells, especially with the first series with compounds 7a-z. Some selected compounds were also evaluated for their agonist and antagonist activities on a panel of 40 receptors. Results showed the importance of the nature and the position with halogeno atom on the benzamide scaffold, the length chain but also the contribution of the hydrophobic part on the amine group. Among them, compounds 7i, w, y with Cl, CN or NO2 groups at the 4-position of the benzamide scaffold showed excellent affinity for S1R (Ki = 1.2-3.6 nM), selectivity for S2R (Ki up to 1400 nM) and high selectivity index (IC50(SY5Y)/Ki(S1R) ratio from 28 000 to 83 000). Futhermore, these compounds presented an excellent safety profile over 40 other receptors. These derivatives will be selected for further biological investigations.

α-Ketothioamide Derivatives: A Promising Tool to Interrogate Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase (PHGDH).

Given the putative role of PHGDH in cancer, development of inhibitors is required to explore its function. In this context, we established and validated a straightforward enzymatic assay suitable for high-throughput screening and we identified inhibitors with similar chemical scaffolds. Through a convergent pharmacophore approach, we synthesized α-ketothioamides that exhibit interesting in vitro PHGDH inhibition and encouraging cellular results. These novel probes may be used to understand the emerging biology of this metabolic target.

Challenges and Opportunities in the Development of Serine Synthetic Pathway Inhibitors for Cancer Therapy.

Recent advances in the understanding of the relationship between cancer and metabolism have highlighted the relevance of the serine synthetic pathway (SSP), which consists of three successive enzymatic reactions. Enzymes of the SSP, such as phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) and phosphoserine aminotransferase 1 (PSAT-1), were recently highlighted because they are amplified in a significant subset of human tumors, and their suppression by RNAi caused a decrease in cancer cell survival and growth. Currently, the discovery of drugs that inhibit these enzymes is still in its infancy, and the identification of suitable inhibitors could serve to understand the emerging biology of these metabolic enzymes. In this review, we present the SSP as a significant and novel emerging area for medicinal chemistry and we provide an overview of one of the key enzymes of the pathway, PHGDH.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of di-aryl urea derivatives as c-Kit inhibitors.

Inhibition of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) continued to be a successful approach for the treatment of many types of human cancers and many potent small molecules kinase inhibitors have been discovered the last decade. In the present study, we describe the synthesis of thienopyrimidine derivatives and their pharmacological evaluation against nine kinases (EGFR, PDGFR-ß, c-Kit, c-Met, Src, Raf, VEGFR-1, -2 and -3). Most of the synthesized compounds showed from moderate to potent activities against c-Kit with IC50 values in the nanomolar range. Among them, 4-anilino(urea)thienopyrimidine analogs showed selectivity and potent c-Kit inhibition with IC50 values less than 6 nM. Docking simulation was performed for the most promising compound 9 into the c-Kit active site to determine the potential binding mode. This study reveal that the 4-anilino(urea)thienopyrimidine is an interesting scaffold to design novel potent and selective c-Kit inhibitors which may make promising candidates for cancers where c-Kit receptors are overexpressed.

Quinazoline derivatives as anticancer drugs: a patent review (2011 - present).

INTRODUCTION: Quinazoline is one of the most studied moieties in medicinal chemistry due to the wide range of biological properties such as the anticancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial and antihypertensive activities. During the past decades, several patents and articles have been published in international peer-reviewed literature regarding the discovery and development of original and promising quinazoline derivatives for cancer treatment. Although quinazolines are well known to inhibit EGFR, there is also a large panel of other therapeutic protein targets. AREAS COVERED: This review summarized the new patents and articles published about quinazoline derivatives as anticancer drugs since 2011. EXPERT OPINION: Since 2011, a lot of quinazoline compounds have shown EGFR inhibition. Unlike the first-generation EGFR inhibitors, they inhibit both wild-type and mutated EGFR. In recent years, a number of studies on quinazoline synthesis have been reported and used by several medicinal chemistry groups for better and easier development of new derivatives. Therefore, several patents have been approved for the use of quinazoline compounds as inhibitors of other kinases, histone deacetylase, Nox and some metabolic pathways. Because of the large number of proteins targeted, some high structural diversity is observed in patented quinazoline compounds. Due to the vast applications of quinazoline derivatives, development of novel quinazoline compounds as anticancer drugs remains a promising field.

Inhibition of tumor cell growth and angiogenesis by 7-aminoalkoxy-4-aryloxy-quinazoline ureas, a novel series of multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Several regulatory and signaling molecules governing angiogenesis are targets of interest for the development of drugs in the cancer, including growth factors such as Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Platelet-Derived Growth Factor (PDGF). A series of 4-aryloxy-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolines, previously synthesized in our laboratory, has shown a nanomolar inhibition of kinase enzymatic activity of VEGFR, PDGFR and c-Kit. We have therefore studied the impact of the variation in the 7-position substitution of the quinazoline core. Substitution by aminoalkoxy chains led to new highly potent ATP-competitive inhibitors of VEGFR, PDGFR and c-Kit enzyme with IC50 values in the nanomolar range and this substitution has increased greatly antiproliferative activity on cancer cell lines (PC3, MCF7, HT29) and HUVEC (human umbilical vein endothelial cells). One of the most promising compounds (36) was assessed for its ability to limit the induction of web like network of capillary tubes by the human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC) and for its ability to inhibit invasion.

Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of (aryloxy)quinazoline ureas as novel, potent, and selective vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 inhibitors.

In our continuing search for medicinal agents to treat proliferative diseases, quinazoline derivatives were synthesized and evaluated pharmacologically as epithelial growth factor receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) tyrosine kinase inhibitors. A quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis was conducted to rationalize the structure-activity relationship and to predict how similar the inhibitor-binding profiles of two protein kinases are likely to be on the basis of the docking of lead coumpounds into the ATP-binding site. This model was used to direct the synthesis of new compounds. A series of N-(aromatic)-N'-{4-[(6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4-yl)oxy]phenyl}urea were identified as potent and selective inhibitors of the tyrosine kinase activity of VEGFR-2 (fetal liver kinase 1, kinase insert domain-containing receptor). An efficient route was developed that enabled the synthesis of a wide variety of analogues with substitution on several positions of the template. Substitution of diarylurea, competitive with ATP, afforded several analogues with low nanomolar inhibition of enzymatic activity of VEGFR-2. In this paper, we describe the synthesis, structure-activity relationships, and pharmacological characterization of the series.

Impact of aryloxy-linked quinazolines: a novel series of selective VEGFR-2 receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Three series of 6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline derivatives substituted in the 4-position by aniline, N-methylaniline and aryloxy entities, targeting EGFR and VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinases, were designed and synthesized. Pharmacological activities of these compounds have been evaluated for their enzymatic inhibition of VEGFR-2 and EGFR and for their antiproliferative activities on various cancer cell lines. We have studied the impact of the variation in the 4-position substitution of the quinazoline core. Substitution by aryloxy groups led to new compounds which are selective inhibitors of VEGFR-2 enzyme with IC(50) values in the nanomolar range in vitro.

Design, synthesis, and DNA-binding of N-alkyl(anilino)quinazoline derivatives.

New N-alkylanilinoquinazoline derivatives 5, 12, 20, and 22 have been prepared from 4-chloro-6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline 3, 4-chloro-6,7-methylenedioxyquinazoline 19, and commercially available anilines. Differents classes of compounds substituted by an aryloxygroup (6a-c, 16a,b, and 17a,b), (aminophenyl)ureas (12a,b and 13a-f), anilines (4a-m, 20a,b), N-alkyl(aniline) (5a-m, 21a,b, 22a,d), and N-aminoalkyl(aniline) (22e-g) have been synthesized. These molecules were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities and as potential DNA intercalating agents. We studied the strength and mode of binding to DNA of these molecules by DNA melting temperature measurements, fluorescence emission, and circular dichroism. The results of various spectral and gel electrophoresis techniques obtained with the different compounds, in particular compounds 5g and 22f, revealed significant DNA interaction. These experiments confirm that the N-aminoalkyl(anilino)-6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline nucleus is an efficient pharmacophore to trigger binding to DNA, via an intercalative binding process.