ABSTRACT
A series of hybrids containing tacrine linked to carbohydrate-based moieties, such as d-xylose, d-ribose, and d-galactose derivatives, were synthesized by the nucleophilic substitution between 9-aminoalkylamino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridines and the corresponding sugar-based tosylates. All compounds were found to be potent inhibitors of both acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) in the nanomolar IC50 scale. Most of the d-xylose derivatives (6a-e) were selective for AChE and the compound 6e (IC50â¯=â¯2.2â¯nM for AChE and 4.93â¯nM for BuChE) was the most active compound for both enzymes. The d-galactose derivative 8a was the most selective for AChE exhibiting an IC50 ratio of 7.6 for AChE over BuChE. Only two compounds showed a preference for BuChE, namely 7a (d-ribose derivative) and 6b (d-xylose derivative). Molecular docking studies indicated that the inhibitors are capable of interacting with the entire binding cavity and the main contribution of the linker is to enable the most favorable positioning of the two moieties with CAS, PAS, and hydrophobic pocket to provide optimal interactions with the binding cavity. This finding is reinforced by the fact that there is no linear correlation between the linker size and the observed binding affinities. The majority of the new hybrids synthesized in this work do not violate the Lipinski's rule-of-five according to FAF-Drugs4, and do not demonstrated predicted hepatotoxicity according ProTox-II.
Subject(s)
Cholinesterase Inhibitors/chemistry , Cholinesterase Inhibitors/pharmacology , Drug Design , Tacrine/analogs & derivatives , Tacrine/pharmacology , Acetylcholinesterase/metabolism , Animals , Butyrylcholinesterase/metabolism , Cholinesterase Inhibitors/chemical synthesis , Galactose/analogs & derivatives , Galactose/chemical synthesis , Galactose/pharmacology , Humans , Mice , Molecular Docking Simulation , Ribose/analogs & derivatives , Ribose/chemical synthesis , Ribose/pharmacology , Structure-Activity Relationship , Tacrine/chemical synthesis , Torpedo , Xylose/analogs & derivatives , Xylose/chemical synthesis , Xylose/pharmacologyABSTRACT
The emergence of multidrug resistance cell lines is one of the major obstacles in the success of cancer chemotherapeutic treatment. Therefore, it remains a big challenge the development of new and effective drugs to defeat cancer. The presence of nitrogen heterocycles in the architectural design of drugs has led to the discovery of new leading compounds. Herein, we report the synthesis, characterization and in vitro antiproliferative activity against six cancer cell lines of d-ribofuranoside derivatives bearing a 1,2,4-oxadiazolic ring, with the aim of developing new active compounds. Most of these derivatives exhibit significant antiproliferative activities in the micromolar range. Noteworthy, the most potent compound of the series showed better selectivity towards the more resistant colon cancer cell line WiDr.