1. Structure-activity relationship of dual inhibitors containing maleimide and imidazole motifs against glutaminyl cyclase and glycogen synthase kinase-3β.
- Author
-
Wei D, Cai J, Qin F, Zhou Q, Xiong W, Xu C, Li C, and Wu H
- Subjects
- Structure-Activity Relationship, Humans, Enzyme Inhibitors chemistry, Enzyme Inhibitors pharmacology, Enzyme Inhibitors chemical synthesis, Molecular Structure, Alzheimer Disease drug therapy, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 antagonists & inhibitors, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 metabolism, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Maleimides chemistry, Maleimides pharmacology, Maleimides chemical synthesis, Imidazoles chemistry, Imidazoles pharmacology, Imidazoles chemical synthesis, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta antagonists & inhibitors, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta metabolism, Aminoacyltransferases antagonists & inhibitors, Aminoacyltransferases metabolism
- Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major cause of dementia and one of the most common chronic diseases affecting the aging population. Because AD is considered a public health priority, there is a critical need to discover novel and effective agents for the treatment of this condition. In view of the known contribution of up-regulated glutaminyl cyclase (QC) and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) to the initiation of AD, we previously evaluated a series of dual inhibitors containing maleimide and imidazole motifs as potential anti-AD agents. Here, we assessed another series of hybrids containing maleimide and imidazole motifs to gain an in-depth understanding of the structure-activity relationship (SAR). Based on the primary screening, the introduction of 5-methyl imidazole at one side of the molecule did not enhance the QC-specific inhibitory activity of these hybrids (2, IC
50 = 1.22 μM), although the potency was increased by 2' substitution on the maleimide motif at the other side of the molecule. Interestingly, compounds containing 5-methyl imidazole exhibited stronger GSK-3β-specific inhibitory activity (2, IC50 = 0.0021 μM), and the electron-withdrawing group and 2' and 3' substitution were favorable. Further investigation of substitutions on the maleimide motif in compounds 14-35 revealed that QC-specific inhibition in the presence of piperidine was improved by introduction of a methoxy group (R2 ). Increasing the linker length and introduction of a methoxy group (R2 ) also increased the GSK-3β-specific inhibitory potency. These findings were further confirmed by molecular docking analysis of 33 and 24 with QC and GSK-3β. Overall, these hybrids exhibited enhanced inhibitory potency against both QC and GSK-3β, highlighting an important strategy for improving the potency of hybrids as dual-targeting anti-AD agents., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2024
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