Acyl substitution at the ortho position of anilides enhances oral bioavailability of thiophene sulfonamides: TBC3214, an ETA selective endothelin antagonist.

Sitaxsentan (3, TBC11251) (Wu et al. J. Med. Chem. 1997, 40, 1690) is an orally active ET(A) selective endothelin antagonist that attenuates pulmonary vascular hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy in rats (Tilton et al. Pulm. Pharmacol. Ther. 2000, 13, 87). It has demonstrated efficacy in a phase II clinical trial for congestive heart failure (Givertz et al. Circulation 2000, 101, 2922). During the discovery of 3, we observed several structure-oral bioavailability relationships. To investigate whether there is any generality in these trends, we synthesized some similar pairs of compounds in the latest series (Wu et al. J. Med. Chem. 1999, 42, 4485) and evaluated their oral properties. In both series, an acyl group at the 2-position of the anilide of these thiophene sulfonamides improved oral bioavailability. As a result of this exercise, TBC3214 (17) was identified as a sitaxsentan follow-on candidate. It is very potent (IC(50) for ET(A) = 40 pM) and highly selective for ET(A) vs ET(B) receptors (400 000-fold), with a half-life of >4 h and oral bioavailability of 25% in rats, 42% in cats, and 70% in dogs.

The discovery and structure-activity relationships of nonpeptide, low molecular weight antagonists selective for the endothelin ET(B) receptor.

The systematic modification of the ETA selective N-(5-isoxazolyl)benzene-sulfonamide endothelin antagonists to give ETB selective antagonists is reported. The reversal in selectivity was brought about by substitution of the 4-position with aryl and substituted aryl groups. Of all the aromatic substituents studied, the para-tolyl group gave rise to the most active and selective ETB antagonist. Larger substituents caused a decrease in both ETB activity and selectivity. A similar trend was observed by substitution at the 5-position of the N-(5-isoxazolyl)-2-thiophenesulfonamide ETA receptor antagonists. The para-tolyl group was again found to be optimal for the ETB activity and selectivity. The structural features that were found to be favorable for binding to the ETB receptor, that is, the presence of a linear, conjugated pi-system of definite shape and size, have been successfully incorporated into the design of ETB selective polycyclic aromatic sulfonamides antagonists.

COS-7 cells stably transfected to express the human ETB receptor provide a useful screen for endothelin receptor antagonists.

Endothelin acts via specific membrane-bound receptors through signal transduction pathways that include increases in intracellular free calcium and inositol triphosphate generation. Two endothelin receptors have been cloned. The ETA receptor is ET-1 selective, and the ETB receptor is isopeptide nonselective. Both receptor subtypes are widely distributed throughout the body, although ETA receptors predominate in vascular smooth muscle, whereas ETB receptors predominate in the brain. The presence of mixed receptor subtypes makes functional screening of subtype-specific analogues difficult. A eukaryotic expression vector was constructed by inserting the cloned coding region of the human ETB receptor downstream from the Rous sarcoma promoter. COS-7 cells were transfected with this construct, and cell lines were isolated with stably integrated copies of the relevant gene. One line, 1C7, was shown to specifically bind 125I-ET-1. Scatchard analysis indicated a Kd value of 8.8 pM and a Bmax value of 1.02 pM/mg. ET-1 stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis in a dose-dependent manner, as did ET-3, sarafotoxin 6c, and [1,3,13,15Ala]ET-1, whereas BQ123, a selective ETA receptor antagonist, did not inhibit the action of ET-1. The transfected receptor stimulates phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis via a pertussis-sensitive pathway. Pretreatment of the membrane from 1C7 cells with dithio-bis-nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB) a negatively charged, nonpenetrating agent capable of oxidizing sulfhydryl groups, and N-ethyl-maleimide (NEM), a penetrating agent that causes irreversible alkylation of sulfhydryl groups, significantly reduces Bmax but has no effect on Kd. In whole cells, DTNB pretreatment abolishes the ability of ET-1 to stimulate PI hydrolysis.