Discovery of indoximod prodrugs and characterization of clinical candidate NLG802.

A series of different prodrugs of indoximod, including estesrs and peptide amides were synthesized with the aim of improving its oral bioavailability in humans. The pharmacokinetics of prodrugs that were stable in buffers, plasma and simulated gastric and intestinal fluids was first assessed in rats after oral dosing in solution or in capsule formulation. Two prodrugs that produced the highest exposure to indoximod in rats were further tested in Cynomolgus monkeys, a species in which indoximod has oral bioavailability of 6-10% and an equivalent dose-dependent exposure profile as humans.

Implementation of the CYP Index for the Design of Selective Tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase Inhibitors.

A class of imidazoisoindole (III) heme-binding indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) inhibitors were optimized via structure-based drug design into a series of tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase (TDO)-selective inhibitors. Kynurenine pathway modulation was demonstrated , which enabled evaluation of TDO as a potential cancer immunotherapy target. As means of mitigating the risk of drug-drug interactions arising from cytochrome P450 inhibition, a novel property-based drug design parameter, herein referred to as the CYP Index, was implemented for the design of inhibitors with appreciable selectivity for TDO over CYP3A4.

Discovery of Clinical Candidate (1,4)-4-(()-2-(()-6-Fluoro-5-imidazo[5,1-]isoindol-5-yl)-1-hydroxyethyl)cyclohexan-1-ol (Navoximod), a Potent and Selective Inhibitor of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase 1.

A novel class of 5-substituted 5-imidazo[5,1-]isoindoles are described as potent inhibitors of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1). A structure-based drug design approach was used to elaborate the 5-imidazo[5,1-]isoindole core and to improve potency and pharmacological properties. Suitably placed hydrophobic and polar functional groups in the lead molecule allowed improvement of IDO1 inhibitory activity while minimizing off-target liabilities.

Synthesis of 6,6'-binaphthopyran-2-one natural products: pigmentosin A, talaroderxines A and B.

Efficient and stereoselective syntheses of pigmentosin A, talaroderxine A, and its diastereomer talaroderxine B are reported. The binaphthyl ring system is assembled by vanadium-catalyzed phenolic coupling of tricyclic precursors. These key intermediates were prepared by Michael-Dieckmann annulation of a protected orsellinate ester, with the requisite pyranones accessed by a new variant of Ghosez's sulfone-epoxide annulation.

Toward solution-phase automated iterative synthesis: fluorous-tag assisted solution-phase synthesis of linear and branched mannose oligomers.

We report herein the first synthesis of linear and branched mannose oligosaccharides using fluorous-tag assistance with reagents and FSPE protocols that are amenable to automation. The particular fluorous linker proved to maintain solubility of the growing oligosaccharide chain such that identical reaction solvent conditions and purification protocols could be used between glycosylation and deprotection reactions, thereby rendering the procedures amenable to automation.

Identification of the molecular target of small molecule inhibitors of HDL receptor SR-BI activity.

Scavenger receptor, class B, type I (SR-BI), controls high-density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism by mediating cellular selective uptake of lipids from HDL without the concomitant degradation of the lipoprotein particle. We previously identified in a high-throughput chemical screen of intact cells five compounds (BLT-1-5) that inhibit SR-BI-dependent lipid transport from HDL, but do not block HDL binding to SR-BI on the cell surface. Although these BLTs are widely used to examine the diverse functions of SR-BI, their direct target(s), SR-BI itself or some other component of the SR-BI pathway, has not been identified.

Influence of HDL-cholesterol-elevating drugs on the in vitro activity of the HDL receptor SR-BI.

Treatment of atherosclerotic disease often focuses on reducing plasma LDL-cholesterol or increasing plasma HDL-cholesterol. We examined in vitro the effects on HDL receptor [scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI)] activity of three classes of clinical and experimental plasma HDL-cholesterol-elevating compounds: niacin, fibrates, and HDL376. Fenofibrate (FF) and HDL376 were potent (IC(50) approximately 1 microM), direct inhibitors of SR-BI-mediated lipid transport in cells and in liposomes reconstituted with purified SR-BI.

Fluorous-based carbohydrate microarrays.

The success of microarrays, such as DNA chips, for biosample screening with minimal sample usage has led to a variety of technologies for assays on glass slides. Unfortunately, for small molecules, such as carbohydrates, these methods usually rely on covalent bond formation, which requires unique functional handles and multiple chemical steps. A new simpler concept in microarray formation is based on noncovalent fluorous-based interactions.

One-step synthesis of labeled sugar nucleotides for protein O-GlcNAc modification studies by chemical function analysis of an archaeal protein.

Herein we present the chemical function analysis of a recombinant sugar nucleotidyltransferase from the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus and its use in the one-pot synthesis of chloroacetyl- and alkyne-tagged analogues of uridinediphospho-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc). The gene was originally annotated as a glucose-1-phosphate deoxythymidylyltransferase; however, kinetic analysis of a panel of sugar-1-phosphates with the protein shows that it is better described as a bifunctional protein that synthesizes UDP-GlcNAc from glucosamine-1-phosphate and acetyl coenzyme A (CoA). A new mass-spectrometry-based assay for the rapid analysis of the acyltransferase activity demonstrates that the enzyme can also accept cheaper truncated N-acetylcysteamine thioester substrates in place of the natural acetyl CoA.