Design, synthesis and promising anti-tumor efficacy of novel imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives as potent autotaxin allosteric inhibitors

Identification of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-3-amine as a novel drug-like scaffold for efficious ferroptosis inhibition in vivo

Ferroptosis has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for a wide range of diseases. However, limited chemical diversity and poor drug-like profiles have hindered the development of effective ferroptosis inhibitors for clinical use. Herein, we identified drug-like imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-3-amine derivatives as innovative ferroptosis inhibitors for injury-related diseases by drug scaffold repositioning strategy. Our findings established that the selected compounds exhibited high radical scavenging and effective membrane retention, thereby leading to significant suppression of lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis at nanomolar concentrations. Notably, compound C18, with low cytotoxicity and favorable pharmacokinetics properties, demonstrated remarkable in vivo neuroprotection against ischemic brain injury in mice. In conclusion, our investigations not only engender potent ferroptosis inhibitors with novel structural characteristics that warrant further development, but also serve as a valuable case study for drug repurposing in the discovery of additional ferroptosis inhibitors.

A Collection of Novel Antitumor Agents That Regulate Lipid Metabolism in the Tumor Microenvironment

Lipid metabolism disorder is the cause of one of the most significant metabolic changes in tumors. In the process of tumor occurrence and development, tumor cells choose a continuous metabolic adaptation to accommodate the changing environment to the maximum extent possible. In a variety of tumors, the uptake, production, and storage of lipids are generally upregulated. Tumor cells take advantage of lipid metabolism to access basic energy, biofilm components, and signal molecules of the tumor microenvironment required for proliferation, survival, invasion, and metastasis. This Perspective briefly uncovers the main metabolic processes and key factors involved in lipid metabolism reprogramming, mainly related to lipid uptake, de novo synthesis and storage of fatty acids, oxidation of fatty acids, cholesterol synthesis, and related regulatory factors. From a medicinal chemistry perspective, agents against related key targets are reviewed, expecting to pave the way for promising antitumor drugs with prospects for application through lipid metabolism reprogramming.

Recent research advances in ATX inhibitors: An overview of primary literature

The autoglobulin gene is the main enzyme for circulating LPA production and has lysophosphatidylcholine D activity, which catalyzes the production of lysophosphatidic acid and choline with lysophosphatidylcholine as substrate. A growing body of experimental evidence suggests that autoglobulin is involved in the pathogenesis of a variety of diseases. This review summarizes the different structural ATX inhibitors classified according to their binding mode to the ATX triple orientation site, and summarizes the conformational relationships and molecular docking of each type with ATX structure, hoping to contribute to the development of novel ATX inhibitors.

Designing Dual Inhibitors of Autotaxin-LPAR GPCR Axis

The ATX-LPA-LPAR1 signaling pathway plays a universal role in stimulating diverse cellular responses, including cell proliferation, migration, survival, and invasion in almost every cell type. The ATX-LPAR1 axis is linked to several metabolic and inflammatory diseases including cancer, fibrosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Numerous selective ATX or LPAR1 inhibitors have been developed and so far, their clinical efficacy has only been evaluated in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. None of the ATX and LPAR1 inhibitors have advanced to clinical trials for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Nonetheless, several research groups, including ours, have shown considerable benefit of simultaneous ATX and LPAR1 inhibition through combination therapy. Recent research suggests that dual-targeting therapies are superior to combination therapies that use two selective inhibitors. However, limited reports are available on ATX-LPAR1 dual inhibitors, potentially due to co-expression of multiple different LPARs with close structural similarities at the same target. In this review, we discuss rational design and future directions of dual ATX-LPAR1 inhibitors.