Solvent-assisted slow conversion of a dithiazole derivative produces a competitive inhibitor of peptide deformylase

Targeting Metalloenzymes for Therapeutic Intervention

Metalloenzymes are central to a wide range of essential biological activities, including nucleic acid modification, protein degradation, and many others. The role of metalloenzymes in these processes also makes them central for the progression of many diseases and, as such, makes metalloenzymes attractive targets for therapeutic intervention. Increasing awareness of the role metalloenzymes play in disease and their importance as a class of targets has amplified interest in the development of new strategies to develop inhibitors and ultimately useful drugs. In this Review, we provide a broad overview of several drug discovery efforts focused on metalloenzymes and attempt to map out the current landscape of high-value metalloenzyme targets.

Design and synthesis of 4'-((5-benzylidene-2,4-dioxothiazolidin-3-yl)methyl)biphenyl-2-carbonitrile analogs as bacterial peptide deformylase inhibitors

Herein, we report the synthesis and screening of 4'-((5-benzylidene-2,4-dioxothiazolidin-3-yl)methyl)biphenyl-2-carbonitrile analogs 11(a-j) as bacterial peptide deformylase (PDF) enzyme inhibitors. The compounds 11b (IC₅₀ value = 139.28 μm), 11g (IC₅₀ value = 136.18 μm), and 11h (IC₅₀ value = 131.65 μm) had shown good PDF inhibition activity. The compounds 11b (MIC range = 103.36-167.26 μg/mL), 11g (MIC range = 93.75-145.67 μg/mL), and 11h (MIC range = 63.61-126.63 μg/mL) had also shown potent antibacterial activity when compared with standard ampicillin (MIC range = 100.00-250.00 μg/mL). Thus, the active derivatives were not only PDF inhibitors but also efficient antibacterial agents. To gain more insight on the binding mode of the compounds with PDF enzyme, the synthesized compounds 11(a-j) were docked against PDF enzyme of Escherichia coli and compounds exhibited good binding properties. The results suggest that this class of compounds has potential for development and use in future as antibacterial drugs.

Role of the Substrate Specificity-Defining Residues of Human SIRT5 in Modulating the Structural Stability and Inhibitory Features of the Enzyme

Sirtuins are emerging as the key regulators of metabolism and aging, and their potential activators and inhibitors are being explored as therapeutics for improving health and treating associated diseases. Despite the global structural similarity among all seven isoforms of sirtuins (of which most of them catalyze the deacetylation reaction), SIRT5 is the only isoform that catalyzes the cleavage of negatively charged acylated substrates, and the latter feature appears to be encoded by the presence of Tyr102 and Arg105 residues at the active site pocket of the enzyme. To determine the contributions of the above residues in SIRT5 (vis a vis the corresponding residues of SIRT1) on substrate selectivity, inhibition by EX527 and nicotinamide, secondary structural features and thermal stability of the enzymes, we created single and double mutations (viz. Y102A, R105l, and Y102A/R105I) in SIRT5. The kinetic data revealed that while Y102A mutant enzyme catalyzed both deacetylation and desuccinylation reactions with comparable efficiencies, R105I and Y102A/R105I mutant enzymes favored the deacetylase reaction. Like SIRT1, the nicotinamide inhibition of SIRT5 double mutant (Y102A/R105I) exhibited the mixed non-competitive behavior. On the other hand, the desuccinylation reaction of both wild-type and Y102A mutant enzymes conformed to the competitive inhibition model. The inhibitory potency of EX527 progressively increased from Y102A, R105I, to Y102A/R105 mutant enzymes in SIRT5, but it did not reach to the level obtained with SIRT1. The CD spectroscopic data for the wild-type and mutant enzymes revealed changes in the secondary structural features of the enzymes, and such changes were more pronounced on examining their thermal denaturation patterns. A cumulative account of our experimental data reveal mutual cooperation between Y102 and R105 residues in promoting the desuccinylation versus deacetylation reaction in SIRT5, and the overall catalytic feature of the enzyme is manifested via the mutation induced modulation in the protein structure.

New peptide deformylase inhibitors and cooperative interaction: a combination to improve antibacterial activity

OBJECTIVES

Bacterial drug resistance is a worrying public health problem and there is an urgent need for research and development to provide new antibacterial molecules. Peptide deformylase (PDF) is now a well-described intracellular target selected for the design of a new antibiotic group, PDF inhibitors (PDFIs). The initial bacterial susceptibility to an inhibitor of a cytoplasmic target is directly associated with the diffusion of the compound through the membrane barrier of Gram-negative bacteria and with its cytosolic accumulation at the required concentration.

METHODS

We have recently demonstrated that the activity of different PDFIs is strongly dependent on the accumulation of the active molecules by using permeabilizing agents, efflux inhibitors or efflux-mutated strains. In this work we assessed various combination protocols using different putative inhibitors (PDFIs, methionine aminopeptidase inhibitors etc.) to improve antibacterial activity against various resistant Gram-negative bacteria.

RESULTS

The maximum effect was observed when combining actinonin with a dual inhibitor of methionine aminopeptidase and PDF, this molecule being also able to interact with the target while actinonin is bound to the PDF active site.

CONCLUSIONS

Such a combination of inhibitors acting on two tightly associated metabolic steps results in a cooperative effect on bacterial cells and opens an original way to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Drug-target residence time: critical information for lead optimization

Failure due to poor in vivo efficacy is a primary contributor to attrition during the development of new chemotherapeutics. Lead optimization programs that in their quest for efficacy focus solely on improving the affinity of drug-target binding are flawed, since this approach ignores the fluctuations in drug concentration that occur in vivo. Instead the lifetime of the drug-target complex must also be considered, since drugs only act when they are bound to their targets. Consequently, to improve the correlation between the in vitro and in vivo activity of drugs, measurements of drug-target residence time must be incorporated into the drug discovery process.