Antitrypanosomal Chloronitrobenzamides.

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), a neglected tropical disease caused by () or (), remains a significant public health concern with over 55 million people at risk of infection. Current treatments for HAT face the challenges of poor efficacy, drug resistance, and toxicity. This study presents the synthesis and evaluation of chloronitrobenzamides (CNBs) against , identifying previously reported compound as a potent and selective orally bioavailable antitrypanosomal agent.

Selecting an anti-malarial clinical candidate from two potent dihydroisoquinolones.

Background: The ongoing global malaria eradication campaign requires development of potent, safe, and cost-effective drugs lacking cross-resistance with existing chemotherapies. One critical step in drug development is selecting a suitable clinical candidate from late leads. The process used to select the clinical candidate SJ733 from two potent dihydroisoquinolone (DHIQ) late leads, SJ733 and SJ311, based on their physicochemical, pharmacokinetic (PK), and toxicity profiles is described.

Piperidinyl Ureas Chemically Control Defective in Cullin Neddylation 1 (DCN1)-Mediated Cullin Neddylation.

We previously discovered and validated a class of piperidinyl ureas that regulate defective in cullin neddylation 1 (DCN1)-dependent neddylation of cullins. Here, we report preliminary structure-activity relationship studies aimed at advancing our high-throughput screen hit into a tractable tool compound for dissecting the effects of acute DCN1-UBE2M inhibition on the NEDD8/cullin pathway. Structure-enabled optimization led to a 100-fold increase in biochemical potency and modestly increased solubility and permeability as compared to our initial hit.

Discovery of an Orally Bioavailable Inhibitor of Defective in Cullin Neddylation 1 (DCN1)-Mediated Cullin Neddylation.

We previously reported the discovery, validation, and structure-activity relationships of a series of piperidinyl ureas that potently inhibit the DCN1-UBE2M interaction. We demonstrated that compound 7 inhibits both the DCN1-UBE2M protein-protein interaction and DCN1-mediated cullin neddylation in biochemical assays and reduces levels of steady-state cullin neddylation in a squamous carcinoma cell line harboring DCN1 amplification. Although compound 7 exhibits good solubility and permeability, it is rapidly metabolized in microsomal models (CL = 170 mL/min/kg).

Hit-to-Lead Studies for the Antimalarial Tetrahydroisoquinolone Carboxanilides.

Phenotypic whole-cell screening in erythrocytic cocultures of Plasmodium falciparum identified a series of dihydroisoquinolones that possessed potent antimalarial activity against multiple resistant strains of P. falciparum in vitro and show no cytotoxicity to mammalian cells. Systematic structure-activity studies revealed relationships between potency and modifications at N-2, C-3, and C-4.

(+)-SJ733, a clinical candidate for malaria that acts through ATP4 to induce rapid host-mediated clearance of Plasmodium.

Drug discovery for malaria has been transformed in the last 5 years by the discovery of many new lead compounds identified by phenotypic screening. The process of developing these compounds as drug leads and studying the cellular responses they induce is revealing new targets that regulate key processes in the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria. We disclose herein that the clinical candidate (+)-SJ733 acts upon one of these targets, ATP4.

Optimization of the electrophile of chloronitrobenzamide leads active against Trypanosoma brucei.

We previously reported the phenylchloronitrobenzamides (PCNBs), a novel class of compounds active against the species of trypanosomes that cause Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT). Herein, we explored the potential to adjust the reactivity of the electrophilic chloronitrobenzamide core. These studies identified compound 7d that potently inhibited the growth of trypanosomes (EC50=120nM for Trypanosoma b.

Optimization of chloronitrobenzamides (CNBs) as therapeutic leads for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT).

We previously reported the discovery of the activity of chloronitrobenzamides (CNBs) against bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma brucei . Herein we disclose extensive structure-activity relationship and structure-property relationship studies aimed at identification of tractable early leads for clinical development. These studies revealed a promising lead compound, 17b, that exhibited nanomolar potency against T.