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The article focuses on formyl peptide receptors that are involved in ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Topics discussed include the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), disease pathologies that affect central nervous systems, inflammation, and metabolism, and small-molecule FPR agonists mechanisms that facilitate FPR-biased strategies.

Herein we describe the development of a focused series of functionalized pyridazin-3(2 H)-one-based formyl peptide receptor (FPR) agonists that demonstrate high potency and biased agonism. The compounds described demonstrated biased activation of prosurvival signaling, ERK1/2 phosphorylation, through diminution of the detrimental FPR1/2-mediated intracellular calcium (Ca i 2+ ) mobilization. Compound 50 showed an EC 50 of 0.083 μM for phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and an approximate 20-fold bias away from Ca i 2+ mobilization at the hFPR1.

The antitussive agent noscapine has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells by disruption of tubulin dynamic. However, the efficacy of several anticancer drugs that inhibit tublin dynamics (vinca alkaloids and taxanes) is reduced by the multidrug resistance phenotype. These compounds are substrates for P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-mediated extrusion from cells. Consequently, the antiproliferative activity of noscapine and a series of derivatives was measured in drug-sensitive and drug-resistant cells that overexpress P-gp. None of the noscapine derivatives displayed lower potency in cells overexpressing P-gp, thereby suggesting a lack of interaction with this pump. However, the cellular efflux of a fluorescent substrate by P-gp was potently inhibited by noscapine and most derivatives. Further investigation with purified, reconstituted P-gp demonstrated that inhibition of P-gp function was due to direct interaction of noscapine derivatives with the transporter. Moreover, coadministration of vinblastine with two of the noscapine derivatives displayed synergistic inhibition of proliferation, even in P-gp-expressing resistant cell lines. Therefore, noscapine derivatives offer a dual benefit of overcoming the significant impact of P-gp in conferring multidrug resistance and synergy with tubulin-disrupting anticancer drugs., (Copyright © 2019 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.)

Dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) is an enzyme of the folate biosynthesis pathway, which catalyzes the formation of 7,8-dihydropteroate (DHPt) from 6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropterin pyrophosphate (DHPPP) and para-aminobenzoic acid (pABA). DHPS is the long-standing target of the sulfonamide class of antibiotics that compete with pABA. In the wake of sulfa drug resistance, targeting the structurally rigid (and more conserved) pterin site has been proposed as an alternate strategy to inhibit DHPS in wild-type and sulfa drug resistant strains. Following the work on developing pterin-site inhibitors of the adjacent enzyme 6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropterin pyrophosphokinase (HPPK), we now present derivatives of 8-mercaptoguanine, a fragment that binds weakly within both enzymes, and quantify sub-μm binding using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to Escherichia coli DHPS (EcDHPS). Eleven ligand-bound EcDHPS crystal structures delineate the structure-activity relationship observed providing a structural framework for the rational development of novel, substrate-envelope-compliant DHPS inhibitors., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Noscapine, a phthalideisoquinoline alkaloid derived from Papaver somniferum, is a well-known antitussive drug that has a relatively safe in vitro toxicity profile. Noscapine is also known to possess weak anticancer efficacy, and since its discovery, efforts have been made to design derivatives with improved potency. Herein, the synthesis of a series of noscapine analogues, which have been modified in the 6', 9', 1 and 7-positions, is described. In a previous study, replacement of the naturally occurring N-methyl group in the 6'-position with an N-ethylaminocarbonyl was shown to promote cell-cycle arrest and cytotoxicity against three cancer cell lines. Here, this modification has been combined with other structural changes that have previously been shown to improve anticancer activity, namely halo substitution in the 9'-position, regioselective O-demethylation to reveal a free phenol in the 7-position, and reduction of the lactone to the corresponding cyclic ether in the 1-position. The incorporation of new aryl substituents in the 9'-position was also investigated. The study identified interesting new compounds able to induce G2/M cell-cycle arrest and that possess cytotoxic activity against the human prostate carcinoma cell line PC3, the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MCF-7, and the human pancreatic epithelioid carcinoma cell line PANC-1. In particular, the ethyl urea cyclic ether noscapinoids and a compound containing a 6'-ethylaminocarbonyl along with 9'-chloro, 7-hydroxy and lactone moieties exhibited the most promising biological activities, with EC50 values in the low micromolar range against all three cancer cell lines, and these derivatives warrant further investigation., (Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)