Novel androgen receptor full antagonists: Design, synthesis, and a docking study of glycerol and aminoglycerol derivatives that contain p-carborane cages.

Based on the co-crystal structure of bicalutamide with a T877A-mutated androgen receptor (AR), glycerol and aminoglycerol derivatives were designed and synthesized as a novel type of carborane-containing AR modulators. The (R)-isomer of 6c, whose chirality is derived from the glycerol group, showed 20 times more potent cell inhibitory activity against LNCaP cell lines expressing T877A-mutated AR than the corresponding (S)-isomer. Docking studies of both isomers with AR suggested that (R)-6c is in closer spatial proximity to helix-12 of the AR than (S)-6c, which is the most important common motif in the secondary structure of AR for the expression of antagonistic activity.

A series of novel indazole derivatives of Sirt 1 activator as osteogenic regulators.

A series of indazole derivatives were identified as Sirt 1 activators though high-throughput screening. Optimization of each substituent on the indazole ring led to the identification of compound 13. Compound 13 appeared to give the best Sirt 1 activity of the compounds tested and also showed osteogenesis activity in a cell assay. Sirt 1 activators are therefore potential candidates for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Crystal structure, docking study and structure-activity relationship of carborane-containing androgen receptor antagonist 3-(12-hydroxymethyl-1,12-dicarba-closo-dodecaboran-1-yl)benzonitrile.

A potent androgen receptor (AR) antagonist, 3-(12-hydroxymethyl-1,12 dicarba-closo-dodecaboran-1-yl)benzonitrile (3a, BA341), contains a p-carborane cage as a hydrophobic pharmacophore. We elucidated the structural properties of 3a by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and conducted a docking study of 3a with hAR LBD. The cyano group of 3a formed hydrogen bonds with Gln711 and Arg752 and the hydroxymethyl group did so with Asn705 and Thr877 in hAR LBD. The bulky p-carborane cage was accommodated in the hydrophobic pocket of hAR LBD. To understand the structure-activity relationship around the hydroxymethyl group of 3a, we designed, synthesized, and evaluated the biological activities of various novel AR ligands. Since the biological activities of carbonyl compounds 8a, 8b, and 8c were similar to or weaker than those of the parent hydroxyl compounds 3a, 7a, and 7b, it seems to be necessary to have not only a hydrogen bonding acceptor, but also a hydrogen bonding donor adjacent to the hydroxymethyl group of 3a for efficient interaction with hAR LBD.

Design and synthesis of androgen receptor full antagonists bearing a p-carborane cage: promising ligands for anti-androgen withdrawal syndrome.

Pure androgen receptor (AR) full antagonists are candidates to treat anti-androgen refractory prostate cancers. We previously developed a carborane-containing AR antagonist, 3-(12-hydroxymethyl-1,12-dicarba-closo-dodecaborane-1-yl)benzonitrile (BA341), which was more potent than hydroxyflutamide (4) but acted as an agonist toward LNCaP prostate cancer cells expressing T877A AR mutant. Here, we designed and synthesized novel AR full antagonists structurally based upon the clinically used AR full antagonist (R)-bicalutamide (5) to test our hypothesis that the carborane cage is suitable as a hydrophobic pharmacophore for AR ligands. Compounds 7b and 8b showed good biological profiles in AR binding and transactivation assays and dose-dependently inhibited the testosterone-induced proliferation of LNCaP cells, as well as SC-3 cells. The IC(50) values of compounds 7b and 8b were 3.8 x 10(-7) and 4.2 x 10(-7) M, respectively [5, 8.7 x 10(-7) M]. Since compounds 7b and 8b did not show any agonistic activity in functional assays, they seem to be pure AR full antagonists and are therefore candidates for treatment of anti-androgen withdrawal syndrome.

Acidic heterocycles as novel hydrophilic pharmacophore of androgen receptor ligands with a carborane core structure.

A novel series of androgen receptor (AR) ligands bearing an acidic heterocycle with hydrogen-bonding ability as the terminal polar group was developed. Since most non-steroidal AR ligands so far known are structurally limited to nitro- or cyanobenzanilide as the polar pharmacophore, development of alternative hydrogen-bonding components is required to obtain novel AR ligands. Various acidic heterocycles were introduced into a hydrophobic phenylcarborane (1-phenyl-1,12-dicarba-closo-dodecaborane) core structure to provide a moiety that could interact effectively with the critical basic arginine residue of the AR ligand binding domain. The most potent compounds, 1,2,4-oxadiazole-5-thione derivatives 21a and 21b, exhibited higher affinity for hAR than did the well-known anti-androgen hydroxyflutamide. The results suggest that this heterocyclic functionality is potential bioisoster of the nitro and cyano groups forming the polar pharmacophores of known non-steroidal AR ligands.

Design and synthesis of carborane-containing androgen receptor (AR) antagonist bearing a pyridine ring.

We previously developed carborane-containing potent AR antagonists, BA321 and BA341, on the basis of our hypothesis that the carborane cage would be an excellent hydrophobic pharmacophore in place of steroidal C and D rings. As an extension of that work, we designed and synthesized carborane-containing AR antagonist candidates with a pyridine ring. Compound 6b, which has a pyridine ring directly bound to the p-carborane cage at the 3-position, exhibited potent AR-antagonistic activity in transcriptional activation assay using NIH3T3 cells transfected with a hAR-expression plasmid. In addition, it showed more potent antiandrogenic activity than that of the well-known antiandrogen flutamide and comparable activity to that of (R)-bicalutamide in SC-3 cell proliferation assay.

Facile and efficient synthesis of C-hydroxycarboranes and C,C'-dihydroxycarboranes.

C-Hydroxylated carboranes, carboranols, have interesting properties resulting from their hydroxyl protons being highly acidic because of the electron-deficient nature of the carborane cage. We described here an efficient synthesis of C-hydroxycarboranes 2 and C,C'-dihydroxycarboranes 3 by the reaction of carboranyl lithium and trimethylborate, followed by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of acetic acid, to afford the corresponding o-, m-, and p-hydroxycarboranes 2 and o-, m-, and p-dihydroxycarboranes 3 selectively in high yields through a one-pot procedure. The m- and p-carborane isomers of 2 and 3 were obtained in especially good yields (2b, 85%; 2c, 85%; 3b, 95%; 3c, 96%). DFT calculations were performed on the dihydroxycarboranes 3 to compare the geometrical features of the isomers at the same level of theory and to characterize their electronic and NMR spectroscopic (13C chemical shift) properties.

1,2-Dicarba-closo-dodecaboran-1-yl naphthalene derivatives.

1,2-Dicarba-closo-dodecaboranes (o-carboranes) and naphthalenes have potential value as components or building blocks for supramolecular systems. We have efficiently synthesized 1-(1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecaboran-1-yl)naphthalene and 2-(1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecaboran-1-yl)naphthalene derivatives by employing three preparative methods: cyclization of the corresponding acetylenes with decaborane(14), an Ullmann-type coupling reaction of carboranes with aryl halide, and the aromatic nucleophilic substitution (S(N)Ar) reaction of aryl-o-carboranes with nitrophenyl halide. The optimum conditions of each method for synthesis of the title compounds were also investigated.

Design and synthesis of novel androgen receptor antagonists with sterically bulky icosahedral carboranes.

Carboranes (dicarba-closo-dodecaboranes) are a class of carbon-containing polyhedral boron-cluster compounds having remarkable chemical and thermal stability, and hydrophobic character. These features may allow application of carboranes as a new hydrophobic core structure in biologically active molecules that interact hydrophobically with receptors. Here, we report the design and synthesis of novel androgen antagonists bearing a carborane moiety. These compounds, particularly 8a, 8c, and 9d, exhibited anti-androgenic activity similar to that of the well-known anti-androgen flutamide in reporter gene assay using NIH3T3 cells transfected with a human AR expression plasmid. The carborane cage seems to be a privileged hydrophobic pharmacophore for the expression of AR-antagonistic activity.

Potent androgen antagonists based on carborane as a hydrophobic core structure.

Carboranes (dicarba-closo-dodecaboranes) are a class of carbon-containing polyhedral boron-cluster compounds having remarkable chemical and thermal stability and hydrophobic character. These features may allow application of carboranes as a new hydrophobic core structure in biologically active molecules that interact hydrophobically with receptors. We report here the design and synthesis of novel androgen antagonists bearing carborane. The most potent compounds, the arylcarborane derivatives 6e and 6i, exhibited antiandrogenic activity greater than that of the well-known antiandrogen hydroxyflutamide in reporter gene assay using NIH3T3 cells transfected with a human AR expression plasmid, as well as in cell growth inhibition assay using androgen-dependent SC-3 cells. Further development of the potent carborane-containing androgen antagonists described here, having a new skeletal structure and unique characteristics, may yield novel therapeutic agents, especially selective androgen receptor modulators.