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Several bacteria rely on the reductive sulphur assimilation pathway, absent in mammals, to synthesise cysteine. Reduction of virulence and decrease in antibiotic resistance have already been associated with mutations on the genes that codify cysteine biosynthetic enzymes. Therefore, inhibition of cysteine biosynthesis has emerged as a promising strategy to find new potential agents for the treatment of bacterial infection. Following our previous efforts to explore OASS inhibition and to expand and diversify our library, a scaffold hopping approach was carried out, with the aim of identifying a novel fragment for further development. This novel chemical tool, endowed with favourable pharmacological characteristics, was successfully developed, and a preliminary Structure-Activity Relationship investigation was carried out.

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is still one of the leading infectious diseases globally. Therefore, novel approaches are needed to face this disease. Efflux pumps are known to contribute to the emergence of M. tuberculosis drug resistance. Thioridazine has shown good anti-TB properties both in vitro and in vivo, likely due to its capacity to inhibit efflux mechanisms. Here we report the design and synthesis of a number of putative efflux inhibitors inspired by the structure of thioridazine. Compounds were evaluated for their in vitro and ex vivo activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv. Compared to the parent molecule, some of the compounds synthesized showed higher efflux inhibitory capacity, less cytotoxicity, and a remarkable synergistic effect with anti-TB drugs both in vitro and in human macrophages, demonstrating their potential to be used as coadjuvants for the treatment of tuberculosis.

TB, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is one of the deadliest infections worldwide. The co-infection with HIV and the emergence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) strains have further increased the burden for this disease. In the attempt to respond to the constant need of novel therapeutic options, we herein report the discovery of 2,4-diphenyl-1H-imidazoles as effective antitubercular agents, with MIC in the low micromolar range against actively replicating and persistent M. tuberculosis strains. The good activity, along with the lack of toxicity and the feasible synthesis, underscore their value as novel scaffolds for the development of new anti-TB drugs., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

New drugs and shorter regimens are needed to fight resistant forms of tuberculosis. Screening of chemical libraries for mining hit compounds is the common approach to find new antituberculars. A new medicinal chemistry and biology directed research rational has recently been successfully described by Lee and coworkers in Nature Medicine., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest infectious diseases of all times, and its recent resurgence is a supreme matter of concern. Co-infection with HIV and, in particular, the continuous isolation of new resistant strains, makes the discovery of novel anti-TB agents a strategic priority. The research of novel agents should be driven by the accessibility of the synthetic procedure and, in particular, by the lack of cross-resistance with the drugs already marketed. Moreover, in order to shorten the duration of the therapy, and therefore decrease the rate of resistance, these molecules should be active also against the nonreplicating persistent form (NRP-TB) of the infection. The availability of an in-house small library of compounds prompted us to investigate their anti-TB activity. Two compounds, embodying a 2-aminothiazole scaffold, were found to possess a certain inhibitory activity toward Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, and therefore a medicinal chemistry campaign was initiated in order to increase the activity of the hit compounds and, especially, construct a plausible body of structure-activity relationships. The potency of the hit compound was successfully improved, and, much more importantly, some of the molecules synthesized were found to be active toward the persistent phenotype, and, also, toward a panel of resistant strains. These findings encourage further investigations around this interesting antitubercular chemotype., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Infections caused by pathogens resistant to the available antimicrobial treatments represent nowadays a threat to global public health. Recently, it has been demonstrated that carbonic anhydrases (CAs) are essential for the growth of many pathogens and their inhibition leads to growth defects. Principal drawbacks in using CA inhibitors (CAIs) as antimicrobial agents are the side effects due to the lack of selectivity toward human CA isoforms. Herein we report a new class of CAIs, which preferentially interacts with microbial CA active sites over the human ones. The mechanism of action of these inhibitors was investigated against an important fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans, revealing that they are also able to inhibit CA in microbial cells growing in vitro. At our best knowledge, this is the first report on newly designed synthetic compounds selectively targeting β-CAs and provides a proof of concept of microbial CAs suitability as an antimicrobial drug target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cysteine is a building block for several biomolecules that are crucial for living organisms. The last step of cysteine biosynthesis is catalyzed by O-acetylserine sulfydrylase (OASS), a highly conserved pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme, present in different isoforms in bacteria, plants, and nematodes, but absent in mammals. Beside the biosynthesis of cysteine, OASS exerts a series of "moonlighting" activities in bacteria, such as transcriptional regulation, contact-dependent growth inhibition, swarming motility, and induction of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, the discovery of molecules capable of inhibiting OASS would be a valuable tool to unravel how this protein affects the physiology of unicellular organisms. As a continuation of our efforts toward the synthesis of OASS inhibitors, in this work we have used a combination of computational and spectroscopic approaches to rationally design, synthesize, and test a series of substituted 2-phenylcyclopropane carboxylic acids that bind to the two S. typhymurium OASS isoforms at nanomolar concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clonidine-like central antihypertensive agent rilmenidine, which has high affinity for I 1 -type imidazoline receptors (I 1 -IR) was recently found to have cytotoxic effects on cultured cancer cell lines. However, due to its pharmacological effects resulting also from α 2 -adrenoceptor activation, rilmenidine cannot be considered a suitable anticancer drug candidate. Here, we report the identification of novel rilmenidine-derived compounds with anticancer potential and devoid of α 2 -adrenoceptor effects by means of ligand- and structure-based drug design approaches. Starting from a large virtual library, eleven compounds were selected, synthesized and submitted to biological evaluation. The most active compound 5 exhibited a cytotoxic profile similar to that of rilmenidine, but without appreciable affinity to α 2 -adrenoceptors. In addition, compound 5 significantly enhanced the apoptotic response to doxorubicin, and may thus represent an important tool for the development of better adjuvant chemotherapeutic strategies for doxorubicin-insensitive cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]