Synthesis and identification of unprecedented selective inhibitors of CK1ε.

A small and structure-biased library of enantiopure anti-ß-amino alcohols was prepared in a straightforward manner by a simplified version of the Reetz protocol. Antiproliferative activity testing against a panel of five human solid tumor cell lines gave GI50 values in the range 1-20 µM. The reverse screening by computational methods against 58 proteins involved in cancer pointed to kinases as possible therapeutic target candidates. The experimental determination of the interaction with 456 kinases indicated that the compounds behave as selective CK1ε inhibitors. Our results demonstrate that the lead compound represents the first selective CK1ε inhibitor with proven antiproliferative activity in cancer cell lines.

Dual-stage triterpenoids from an African medicinal plant targeting the malaria parasite.

Sixteen triterpenoids (1-16), previously isolated from the aerial parts of the African medicinal plant Momordica balsamina or obtained by derivatization, were evaluated for their activity against liver stages of Plasmodium berghei, measuring the luminescence intensity in Huh-7 cells infected with a firefly luciferase-expressing P. berghei line, PbGFP-Luccon. Toxicity of compounds (1-16) was assessed on the same cell line through the fluorescence measurement of cell confluency. The highest activity was displayed by a derivative bearing two acetyl residues, karavoate B (7), which led to a dose-dependent decrease in the P. berghei infection rate, exhibiting a very significant activity at the lowest concentration employed (1 µM) and no toxicity towards the Huh-7 cells. It is noteworthy that, in previous studies, this compound was found to be a strong inhibitor of blood-stages of Plasmodium falciparum, thus displaying a dual-stage antimalarial activity.

Molecular docking studies of the interaction between propargylic enol ethers and human DNA topoisomerase IIα.

Having identified a novel human DNA topoisomerase IIα (TOP2) catalytic inhibitor from a small and structure-focused library of propargylic enol ethers, we decided to analyze if the chirality of these compounds plays a determinant role in their antiproliferative activity. In this study, we describe for the first time the synthesis of the corresponding enantiomers and the biological evaluation against a panel of representative human solid tumor cell lines. Experimental results show that chirality does not influence the reported antiproliferative activity of these compounds. Docking studies of corresponding enantiomers against TOP2 reinforce the finding that the biological effect is not chiral-dependent and that these family of compounds seem to act as TOP2 catalytic inhibitors.

QSAR studies of macrocyclic diterpenes with P-glycoprotein inhibitory activity.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a major limitation for cancer chemotherapy. There are several mechanisms of MDR but the most important is associated with P-glycoprotein (P-gp) overexpression. The development of modulators of P-gp that are able to re-establish drug sensitivity of resistant cells has been considered a promising approach for overcoming MDR. Macrocyclic lathyrane and jatrophane-type diterpenes from Euphorbia species were found to be strong MDR reversing agents. In this study we applied quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) methodology in order to identify the most relevant molecular features of macrocyclic diterpenes with P-gp inhibitory activity and to determine which structural modifications can be performed to improve their activity. Using experimental biological data at two concentrations (4 and 40 µg/ml), we developed a QSAR model for a set of 51 bioactive diterpenic compounds which includes lathyrane and jatrophane-type diterpenes and another model just for jatrophanes. The cross-validation correlation values for all diterpenes QSAR models developed for biological activities at compound concentrations of 4 and 40 µg/ml were 0.758 and 0.729, respectively. Regarding the prediction ability, we get R²(pred) values of 0.765 and 0.534 for biological activities at compound concentrations of 4 and 40 µg/ml, respectively. Applying the cross-validation test to jatrophanes QSAR models, we obtained 0.680 and 0.787 for biological activities at compound concentrations of 4 and 40 µg/ml concentrations, respectively. For the same concentrations, the obtained R²(pred) values for jatrophanes models were 0.541 and 0.534, respectively. The obtained models were statistically valid and showed high prediction ability.