Background: Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling cascade is a phylogenetically conserved stem cell regulator that is aberrantly expressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSLC) and leukemias. BMP signaling negatively regulates mitochondrial bioenergetics in lung cancer cells. The impact of inhibiting BMP signaling on mitochondrial bioenergetics and the effect this has on the survival of NSLC and leukemia cells are not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShiga toxins are the main virulence factors of Shiga toxin producing (STEC) and . There is no effective therapy to counter the disease caused by these toxins. The A1 subunits of Shiga toxins bind the C-termini of ribosomal P-stalk proteins to depurinate the sarcin/ricin loop.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe global threat of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial pathogens necessitates the development of new and effective antibiotics. FtsZ is an essential and highly conserved cytoskeletal protein that is an appealing antibacterial target for new antimicrobial therapeutics. However, the effectiveness of FtsZ inhibitors against Gram-negative species has been limited due in part to poor intracellular accumulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFControlling malaria requires new drugs against . The cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PfPKG) is a validated target whose inhibitors could block multiple steps of the parasite's life cycle. We defined the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of a pyrrole series for PfPKG inhibition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRicin, a category-B agent for bioterrorism, and Shiga toxins (Stxs), which cause food poisoning bind to the ribosomal P-stalk to depurinate the sarcin/ricin loop. No effective therapy exists for ricin or Stx intoxication. Ribosome binding sites of the toxins have not been targeted by small molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChlamydiae are obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria and widespread pathogens in humans and animals. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are currently used to treat chlamydial infections. However, broad-spectrum drugs also kill beneficial bacteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInvasive fungal infections are difficult to treat with limited drug options, mainly because fungi are eukaryotes and share many cellular mechanisms with the human host. Most current antifungal drugs are either fungistatic or highly toxic. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify important fungal specific drug targets for novel antifungal development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe imidazolium compound Ym155 was first reported to be a survivin inhibitor. Ym155 potently induces cell death of many types of cancer cells in preclinical studies. However, in phase II clinical trials Ym155 failed to demonstrate a significant benefit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) are evolutionarily conserved morphogens that are reactivated in lung carcinomas. In lung cancer cells, BMP signaling suppresses AMP activated kinase (AMPK) by inhibiting LKB1. AMPK is activated by mitochondrial stress that inhibits ATP production, which is enhanced 100-fold when phosphorylated by LKB1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is a phylogenetically conserved signaling pathway required for development that is aberrantly expressed in several age-related diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Aberrant BMP signaling in mice leads to obesity, suggesting it may alter normal metabolism. The role of BMP signaling regulating cancer metabolism is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe emergence of multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens highlights an urgent clinical need to explore and develop new antibiotics with novel antibacterial targets. MreB is a promising antibacterial target that functions as an essential elongasome protein in most Gram-negative bacterial rods. Here, we describe a third-generation MreB inhibitor (TXH11106) with enhanced bactericidal activity versus the Gram-negative pathogens , , , and compared to the first- and second-generation compounds A22 and CBR-4830, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRicin toxin A subunit (RTA) is the catalytic subunit of ricin, which depurinates an adenine from the sarcin/ricin loop in eukaryotic ribosomes. There are no approved inhibitors against ricin. We used a new strategy to disrupt RTA-ribosome interactions by fragment screening using surface plasmon resonance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Recent studies have shown that bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 (BMPR2) regulates cell survival signaling events in cancer cells independent of the BMP type 1 receptor (BMPR1) or the Smad-1/5 transcription factor. Mutations in BMPR2 trafficking proteins leads to overactive BMP signaling, which leads to neurological diseases caused by BMPR2 stabilization of the microtubules. It is not known whether BMPR2 regulates the microtubules in cancer cells and what effect this has on cell survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDihydromyricetin is a natural bioactive flavonoid with unique GABA receptor activity with a putative mechanism of action to reduce the intoxication effects of ethanol. Although dihydromyricetin's poor oral bioavailability limits clinical utility, the promise of this mechanism for the treatment of alcohol use disorder warrants further investigation into its specificity and druggable potential. These experiments investigated the bioavailability of dihydromyricetin in the brain and serum associated with acute anti-intoxicating effects in C57BL/6J mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlcohol use disorder (AUD) affects over 18 million people in the US. Unfortunately, pharmacotherapies available for AUD have limited clinical success and are under prescribed. Previously, we established that avermectin compounds (ivermectin [IVM] and moxidectin) reduce alcohol (ethanol/EtOH) consumption in mice, but these effects are limited by P-glycoprotein (Pgp/ABCB1) efflux.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe identified a set of thiosemicarbazone (TSC) metal ion chelators that reactivate specific zinc-deficient p53 mutants using a mechanism called zinc metallochaperones (ZMCs) that restore zinc binding by shuttling zinc into cells. We defined biophysical and cellular assays necessary for structure-activity relationship studies using this mechanism. We investigated an alternative class of zinc scaffolds that differ from TSCs by substitution of the thiocarbamoyl moiety with benzothiazolyl, benzoxazolyl, and benzimidazolyl hydrazones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSGLT2 inhibitors deuterated at sites susceptible to oxidative metabolism were found to have a slightly longer tmax and half-life (t1/2), dose-dependent increase in urinary glucose excretion (UGE) in rats, and slightly superior effects on UGE in dogs while retaining similar in vitro inhibitory activities against hSGLT2. In particular, deuterated compound 41 has the potential to be a robust long-acting antidiabetic agent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo distinct G protein-coupled purinergic receptors, P2Y1 and P2Y12, mediate ADP-driven platelet activation. The clinical effectiveness of P2Y12 blockade is well established. Recent preclinical data suggest that P2Y1 and P2Y12 inhibition provide equivalent antithrombotic efficacy, while targeting P2Y1 has the potential for reduced bleeding liability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA series of C-aryl glucosides with various substituents at the 4'-position of the distal aryl ring have been synthesized and evaluated for inhibition of hSGLT1 and hSGLT2. Introduction of alkyl or alkoxy substituents at the 4'-position was found to improve SGLT2 potency, whereas introduction of a hydrophilic group at this position was deleterious. Compounds with alkoxy-, cycloalkoxy- or cycloalkenyloxy-ethoxy scaffolds exhibited good inhibitory activity and high selectivity toward SGLT2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) is a renal type III integral membrane protein that co-transports sodium and glucose from filtrate to epithelium in the proximal tubule. Human subjects with homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in SLC5A2 exhibit glucosuria without hypoglycemia or other obvious morbidity, suggesting that blockade of SGLT2 has the potential to promote normalization of blood glucose without hypoglycemia in the setting of type 2 diabetes. This report presents the in vitro and in vivo pharmacological activities of EGT1442, a recently discovered SGLT2 inhibitor in the C-aryl glucoside class.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA G-Protein-coupled receptor-targeted library of aryloxypropanolamines and aryloxybutanolamines was efficiently executed using a novel, polymer-supported acyclic acetal linker, producing compounds in good yields and purities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 3D quantitative structure-activity relationship study for inhibition of calcium-sensing receptor in the aryloxypropanolamine series predicted that these molecules adopt a U-shaped conformation with pi-stacking between the two aromatic rings. This hypothesis led to the discovery of novel 1-arylmethyl pyrrolidin-2-yl ethanol amines capable of antagonizing the calcium-sensing receptor with potency comparable to that of NPS-2143.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA structure-activity relationship study of the amine portion of the calcilytic compound NPS-2143 resulted in the discovery of substituted 2-benzylpyrrolidines as replacements for the 1,1-dimethyl-2-naphthalen-2-yl-ethylamine. When compared to NPS-2143, a newly discovered compound, 3h, exhibited similar potency as a calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) antagonist and a superior human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) profile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA series of purine based inhibitors of PDE7 has been derived from screening lead 1a. The synthesis, structure-activity relationships (SAR), and selectivity against several other PDE family members are described.
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