ABSTRACT
Structure-based design was utilized to optimize 6,6-diaryl substituted dihydropyrone and hydroxylactam to obtain inhibitors of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) with low nanomolar biochemical and single-digit micromolar cellular potencies. Surprisingly the replacement of a phenyl with a pyridyl moiety in the chemical structure revealed a new binding mode for the inhibitors with subtle conformational change of the LDHA active site. This led to the identification of a potent, cell-active hydroxylactam inhibitor exhibiting an in vivo pharmacokinetic profile suitable for mouse tumor xenograft study.
Subject(s)
Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology , L-Lactate Dehydrogenase/antagonists & inhibitors , Lactams/pharmacology , Animals , Cell Line , Dogs , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Enzyme Inhibitors/chemistry , Humans , L-Lactate Dehydrogenase/metabolism , Lactams/chemistry , Mice , Microsomes, Liver/chemistry , Microsomes, Liver/metabolism , Molecular Structure , Structure-Activity RelationshipABSTRACT
Optimization of 5-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-3-hydroxy-2-mercaptocyclohex-2-enone using structure-based design strategies resulted in inhibitors with considerable improvement in biochemical potency against human lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA). These potent inhibitors were typically selective for LDHA over LDHB isoform (410 fold) and other structurally related malate dehydrogenases, MDH1 and MDH2 (>500 fold). An X-ray crystal structure of enzymatically most potent molecule bound to LDHA revealed two additional interactions associated with enhanced biochemical potency.
