Publications by authors named "Scott E Lazerwith"

Article Synopsis
  • Researchers discovered a strong and selective antagonist for the lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPAR1), which has antifibrotic properties, initially validated through a specific assay involving MRTF-A.* -
  • Structural modifications improved the compound's stability and pharmacokinetics, leading to a promising candidate for oral dosing that effectively blocked LPA-induced histamine release and showed efficacy against lung fibrosis in preclinical tests.* -
  • Despite its potential, the development of the LPAR1 antagonist was discontinued due to observed CNS toxicity in dog models, raising safety concerns for clinical use in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).*
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The HIV integrase (IN) strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) bictegravir (BIC) has a long dissociation half-life (t) from wild-type IN-DNA complexes: BIC 163 hr > dolutegravir (DTG) 96 hr > raltegravir (RAL) 10 hr > elvitegravir (EVG) 3.3 hr. In cells, BIC had more durable antiviral activity against wild-type HIV after drug washout than RAL or EVG.

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Oral antiretroviral agents provide life-saving treatments for millions of people living with HIV, and can prevent new infections via pre-exposure prophylaxis. However, some people living with HIV who are heavily treatment-experienced have limited or no treatment options, owing to multidrug resistance. In addition, suboptimal adherence to oral daily regimens can negatively affect the outcome of treatment-which contributes to virologic failure, resistance generation and viral transmission-as well as of pre-exposure prophylaxis, leading to new infections.

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Bictegravir (BIC; GS-9883), a novel, potent, once-daily, unboosted inhibitor of HIV-1 integrase (IN), specifically targets IN strand transfer activity (50% inhibitory concentration [IC] of 7.5 ± 0.3 nM) and HIV-1 integration in cells.

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One of the most challenging goals of hepatitis C virus (HCV) research is to develop well-tolerated regimens with high cure rates across a variety of patient populations. Such a regimen will likely require a combination of at least two distinct direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Combining two or more DAAs with different resistance profiles increases the number of mutations required for viral breakthrough.

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Investigation of thiophene-2-carboxylic acid HCV NS5B site II inhibitors, guided by measurement of cell culture medium binding, revealed the structure-activity relationships for intrinsic cellular potency. The pharmacokinetic profile was enhanced through incorporation of heterocyclic ethers on the N-alkyl substituent. Hydroxyl groups were incorporated to modulate protein binding.

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GS-9669 is a highly optimized thumb site II nonnucleoside inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA polymerase, with a binding affinity of 1.35 nM for the genotype (GT) 1b protein. It is a selective inhibitor of HCV RNA replication, with a mean 50% effective concentration (EC(50)) of ≤ 11 nM in genotype 1 and 5 replicon assays, but lacks useful activity against genotypes 2 to 4.

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A novel series of HCV replication inhibitors based on a pyrido[3,2-d]pyrimidine core were optimized for pharmacokinetics (PK) in rats. Several associations between physicochemical properties and PK were identified and exploited to guide the design of compounds. In addition, a simple new metric that may aid in the prediction of bioavailability for compounds with higher polar surface area is described (3*HBD-cLogP).

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Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) is an integral membrane serine hydrolase that degrades the fatty acid amide family of signaling lipids, including the endocannabinoid anandamide. Genetic or pharmacological inactivation of FAAH leads to analgesic and anti-inflammatory phenotypes in rodents without showing the undesirable side effects observed with direct cannabinoid receptor agonists, indicating that FAAH may represent an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory pain and other nervous system disorders. Herein, we report the discovery and characterization of a highly efficacious and selective FAAH inhibitor PF-04457845 (23).

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The synthesis and structure-activity relationships (SAR) of a series of benzothiophene piperazine and piperidine urea FAAH inhibitors is described. These compounds inhibit FAAH by covalently modifying the enzyme's active site serine nucleophile. Activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) revealed that these urea inhibitors were completely selective for FAAH relative to other mammalian serine hydrolases.

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Protein phosphorylation is a major mechanism of post-translational protein modification used to control cellular signaling. A challenge in phosphoproteomics is to identify the direct substrates of each protein kinase. Herein, we describe a chemical strategy for delivery of a bio-orthogonal affinity tag to the substrates of an individual protein kinase.

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