The neuropeptide FF (NPFF) system has been implicated in a number of physiological processes including modulating the pharmacological activity of opioid analgesics and several other classes of drugs of abuse. In this study, we report the discovery of a novel proline scaffold with antagonistic activity at the NPFF receptors through a high throughput screening campaign using a functional calcium mobilization assay. Focused structure-activity relationship studies on the initial hit 1 have resulted in several analogs with calcium mobilization potencies in the submicromolar range and modest selectivity for the NPFF1 receptor. Affinities and potencies of these compounds were confirmed in radioligand binding and functional cAMP assays. Two compounds, 16 and 33, had good solubility and blood-brain barrier permeability that fall within the range of CNS permeant candidates without the liability of being a P-glycoprotein substrate. Finally, both compounds reversed fentanyl-induced hyperalgesia in rats when administered intraperitoneally. Together, these results point to the potential of these proline analogs as promising NPFF receptor antagonists.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00219 | DOI Listing |
Sci Rep
December 2024
Center for Drug Discovery, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, 422-8526, Shizuoka, Japan.
The cell painting assay is useful for understanding cellular phenotypic changes and drug effects. To identify other aspects of well-known chemicals, we screened 258 compounds with the cell painting assay and focused on a mitochondrial punctate phenotype seen with disulfiram. To elucidate the reason for this punctate phenotype, we looked for clues by examining staining steps and gene knockdown as well as examining protein solubility and comparing cell lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioData Min
December 2024
School of Computing, Queen's University, 557 Goodwin Hall, 21-25 Union St, Kingston, K7L 2N8, Ontario, Canada.
Background: Epistasis, the phenomenon where the effect of one gene (or variant) is masked or modified by one or more other genes, significantly contributes to the phenotypic variance of complex traits. Traditionally, epistasis has been modeled using the Cartesian epistatic model, a multiplicative approach based on standard statistical regression. However, a recent study investigating epistasis in obesity-related traits has identified potential limitations of the Cartesian epistatic model, revealing that it likely only detects a fraction of the genetic interactions occurring in natural systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioorg Chem
December 2024
The State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China; Institute of Biomedical Health Technology and Engineering, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, 518132, China; School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
The down-regulation of p21 after long-term CDK4/6 inhibition represents a key mechanism causing resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors in some tumor cells, while the HDAC inhibitor could upregulate the level of p21. Herein, a series of novel CDK4/6 and HDAC dual-targeting inhibitors based on the moiety of palbociclib were designed and synthesized. Among them, compound N14 potently inhibited CDK4/6 and HDAC1/6 at nanomolar levels and induced cell apoptosis and G/G phase arrest through HDAC-p21-CDK signaling pathway in HuH-7 cell line.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioorg Med Chem
December 2024
State Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Drugs and Large-scale Manufacturing, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, 1210 University Town, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325035, China. Electronic address:
X-ray repair cross-complementing 2 (XRCC2), a critical protein in homologous recombination (HR), plays a significant role in the occurrence, progression, and drug resistance of colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, a series of xanthohumol C derivatives were synthesized, and their anticancer activity was evaluated. The results revealed that A33 demonstrated the potent anticancer activity and effectively inhibited the proliferation of CRC cells in vitro.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Med Chem
December 2024
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Sinai University, Kantara Branch, Ismailia, 41636, Egypt.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is primarily caused by oxidative stress, hyperphosphorylated τ-protein aggregation, and amyloid-β deposition. Changes in dopaminergic and serotoninergic neurotransmitter pathways are linked to certain symptoms of AD. Derivatives of bicyclic and tricyclic cyclohepta[b]thiophene were developed to identify new potential candidates as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitors for the treatment of AD.
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