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Tyagi R, Bulman CA, Cho-Ngwa F, Fischer C, Marcellino C, Arkin MR, McKerrow JH, McNamara CW, Mahoney M, Tricoche N, Jawahar S, Janetka JW, Lustigman S, Sakanari J, Mitreva M. An Integrated Approach to Identify New Anti-Filarial Leads to Treat River Blindness, a Neglected Tropical Disease. Pathogens 2021; 10:71. [PMID: 33466870 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens10010071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Revised: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Filarial worms cause multiple debilitating diseases in millions of people worldwide, including river blindness. Currently available drugs reduce transmission by killing larvae (microfilariae), but there are no effective cures targeting the adult parasites (macrofilaricides) which survive and reproduce in the host for very long periods. To identify effective macrofilaricides, we carried out phenotypic screening of a library of 2121 approved drugs for clinical use against adult Brugia pahangi and prioritized the hits for further studies by integrating those results with a computational prioritization of drugs and associated targets. This resulted in the identification of 18 hits with anti-macrofilaricidal activity, of which two classes, azoles and aspartic protease inhibitors, were further expanded upon. Follow up screening against Onchocerca spp. (adult Onchocerca ochengi and pre-adult O. volvulus) confirmed activity for 13 drugs (the majority having IC50 < 10 μM), and a counter screen of a subset against L. loa microfilariae showed the potential to identify selective drugs that prevent adverse events when co-infected individuals are treated. Stage specific activity was also observed. Many of these drugs are amenable to structural optimization, and also have known canonical targets, making them promising candidates for further optimization that can lead to identifying and characterizing novel anti-macrofilarial drugs.
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Tyagi R, Maddirala AR, Elfawal M, Fischer C, Bulman CA, Rosa BA, Gao X, Chugani R, Zhou M, Helander J, Brindley PJ, Tseng CC, Greig IR, Sakanari J, Wildman SA, Aroian R, Janetka JW, Mitreva M. Small Molecule Inhibitors of Metabolic Enzymes Repurposed as a New Class of Anthelmintics. ACS Infect Dis 2018; 4:1130-1145. [PMID: 29718656 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.8b00090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The enormous prevalence of infections caused by parasitic nematodes worldwide, coupled to the rapid emergence of their resistance to commonly used anthelmintic drugs, presents an urgent need for the discovery of new drugs. Herein, we have identified several classes of small molecules with broad spectrum activity against these pathogens. Previously, we reported the identification of carnitine palmitoyltransferases (CPTs) as a representative class of enzymes as potential targets for metabolic chokepoint intervention that was elucidated from a combination of chemogenomic screening and experimental testing in nematodes. Expanding on these previous findings, we have discovered that several chemical classes of known small molecule inhibitors of mammalian CPTs have potent activity as anthelmintics. Cross-clade efficacy against a broad spectrum of adult parasitic nematodes was demonstrated for multiple compounds from different series. Several analogs of these initial hit compounds were designed and synthesized. The compounds we report represent a good starting point for further lead identification and optimization for development of new anthelmintic drugs with broad spectrum activity and a novel mechanism of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahul Tyagi
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63108, United States
| | - Amarendar Reddy Maddirala
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
| | - Mostafa Elfawal
- University of Massachusetts Medical School, 373 Plantation Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States
| | - Chelsea Fischer
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
| | - Christina A. Bulman
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
| | - Bruce A. Rosa
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63108, United States
| | - Xin Gao
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63108, United States
| | - Ryan Chugani
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
| | - Mingzhou Zhou
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
| | - Jon Helander
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
| | - Paul J. Brindley
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Tropical Medicine and Research Center for Neglected Diseases of Poverty, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, 2300 Eye Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, United States
| | - Chih-Chung Tseng
- Kosterlitz Centre for Therapeutics, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
| | - Iain R. Greig
- Kosterlitz Centre for Therapeutics, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
| | - Judy Sakanari
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco, 1700 4th Street, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
| | - Scott A. Wildman
- UW Carbone Cancer Center, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53792, United States
| | - Raffi Aroian
- University of Massachusetts Medical School, 373 Plantation Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States
| | - James W. Janetka
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
| | - Makedonka Mitreva
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63108, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
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