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Visceral leishmaniasis is responsible for up to 30,000 deaths every year. Current treatments have shortcomings that include toxicity and variable efficacy across endemic regions. Previously, we reported the discovery of GNF6702, a selective inhibitor of the kinetoplastid proteasome, which cleared parasites in murine models of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and human African trypanosomiasis. Here, we describe the discovery and characterization of LXE408, a structurally related kinetoplastid-selective proteasome inhibitor currently in Phase 1 human clinical trials. Furthermore, we present high-resolution cryo-EM structures of the Leishmania tarentolae proteasome in complex with LXE408, which provides a compelling explanation for the noncompetitive mode of binding of this novel class of inhibitors of the kinetoplastid proteasome.

Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness affect 20 million people worldwide and lead to more than 50,000 deaths annually1. The diseases are caused by infection with the kinetoplastid parasites Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma brucei spp., respectively. These parasites have similar biology and genomic sequence, suggesting that all three diseases could be cured with drugs that modulate the activity of a conserved parasite target2. However, no such molecular targets or broad spectrum drugs have been identified to date. Here we describe a selective inhibitor of the kinetoplastid proteasome (GNF6702) with unprecedented in vivo efficacy, which cleared parasites from mice in all three models of infection. GNF6702 inhibits the kinetoplastid proteasome through a non-competitive mechanism, does not inhibit the mammalian proteasome or growth of mammalian cells, and is well-tolerated in mice. Our data provide genetic and chemical validation of the parasite proteasome as a promising therapeutic target for treatment of kinetoplastid infections, and underscore the possibility of developing a single class of drugs for these neglected diseases.

Accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain is believed to contribute to the pathology of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Aβ levels are controlled by the production of Aβ from amyloid precursor protein, degradation by proteases, and peripheral clearance. In this study we sought to determine whether enhancing clearance of plasma Aβ with a peripherally administered Aβ-degrading protease would reduce brain Aβ levels through a peripheral sink. Neprilysin (NEP) is a zinc-dependent metalloprotease that is one of the key Aβ-degrading enzymes in the brain. We developed a NEP fusion protein within vitrodegradation of Aβ and a 10 day plasma half-life in mouse. Intravenous administration of NEP to wild-type and APP23 transgenic mice resulted in dose-dependent clearance of plasma Aβ. However, this did not correspond to reduced levels of soluble brain Aβ with treatment up to 5 weeks in WT mice or formic acid-extractable brain Aβ with 3 month treatment in aged APP23. In contrast, intracranial injection of NEP resulted in an acute decrease in soluble brain Aβ. We found no change in amyloid precursor protein gene expression in mice treated with intravenous NEP, suggesting that the lack of effects in the brain following this route of administration was not caused by compensatory upregulation of Aβ production. Taken together, these results suggest a lack of a robust peripheral Aβ efflux sink through which brain amyloid burdens can be therapeutically reduced.

On the basis of the initial success of optimization of a novel series of imidazolopiperazines, a second generation of compounds involving changes in the core piperazine ring was synthesized to improve antimalarial properties. These changes were carried out to further improve the potency and metabolic stability of the compounds by leveraging the outcome of a set of in vitro metabolic identification studies. The optimized 8,8-dimethyl imidazolopiperazine analogues exhibited improved potency, in vitro metabolic stability profile and, as a result, enhanced oral exposure in vivo in mice. The optimized compounds were found to be more efficacious than the current antimalarials in a malaria mouse model. They exhibit moderate oral exposure in rat pharmacokinetic studies to achieve sufficient multiples of the oral exposure at the efficacious dose in toxicology studies.

The discovery, synthesis, and optimization of compound 1 from a high-throughput screening hit to highly potent and selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (PPARdelta) agonists are reported. The synthesis and structure-activity relationship in this series are described in detail. On the basis of a general schematic PPAR pharmacophore model, scaffold 1 was divided into headgroup, linker, and tailgroup and successively optimized for PPAR activation using in vitro PPAR transactivation assays. A (2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid headgroup, a flexible linker, and a five-membered heteroaromatic center ring with two hydrophobic aryl substituents were required for efficient and selective PPARdelta activation. The fine-tuning of these aryl substituents led to an array of highly potent and selective compounds such as compound 38c, displaying an excellent pharmacokinetic profile in mouse. In an in vivo acute dosing model, selected members of this array were shown to induce the expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase-4 (PDK4) and uncoupling protein-3 (UCP3), genes that are known to be involved in energy homeostasis and regulated by PPARdelta in skeletal muscle.

Described in this article are strategies implemented to increase the throughput of in vivo rodent pharmacokinetic (PK) studies using the snapshot PK study design and automated methods for compound submission, sample processing, data analysis and reporting. Applying snapshot PK studies to categorize the oral exposure of >1300 discovery compounds as low, moderate or high resulted in an attrition rate of 86%. The follow up full PK studies on the remaining compounds found that 98% of the compounds were predicted in the correct (69%) or adjacent (29%) oral exposure category by the snapshot PK studies. These results demonstrate that the snapshot PK screen in rodents can serve as an effective and efficient in vivo tool in the compound selection process in drug discovery.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether Cremophor EL is a suitable surfactant that can be routinely applied to pharmacokinetic (PK) studies in early drug discovery without influencing the intrinsic PK characteristics of the new chemical entities (NCEs). Cremophor EL, a polyoxyl 35 castor oil, has been used as a solubilization aid for water-insoluble compounds in pre-clinical drug discovery. The effect of Cremophor EL on the PK properties of NCEs was examined in seven structurally diverse discovery compounds after intravenous administration. Significant effects of Cremophor EL on plasma volume of distribution (Vss) and plasma clearance (CL) were observed in compounds with moderate to high Vss or CL. The plasma Vss decreased more than 2-fold and the Vss binning category decreased by one unit (e.g. from moderate to low Vss) in 6 of 7 test compounds. Two to five-fold reduction of CL was observed with these 6 compounds. Effect on the terminal half-life (T1/2) was minimal. Using one of these 7 NCEs, concentration dependent effect of Cremophor EL in the vehicle was also determined. Higher percentage of Cremophor EL in vehicle resulted in progressively increased alterations on the plasma CL and Vss. Taken together, these findings indicated that Cremophor EL altered the intrinsic PK properties of these discovery compounds in a concentration dependent manner.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a receptor tyrosine kinase belonging to the insulin receptor superfamily. Expression of ALK in normal human tissues is only found in a subset of neural cells, however it is involved in the genesis of several cancers through genetic aberrations involving translocation of the kinase domain with multiple fusion partners (e.g., NPM-ALK in anaplastic large cell lymphoma ALCL or EML4-ALK in non-small cell lung cancer) or activating mutations in the full-length receptor resulting in ligand-independent constitutive activation (e.g., neuroblastoma). Here we are reporting the discovery of novel and selective anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitors from specific modifications of the 2,4-diaminopyridine core present in TAE684 and LDK378. Synthesis, structure activity relationships (SAR), absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) profile, and in vivo efficacy in a mouse xenograft model of anaplastic large cell lymphoma are described.

Two CYP51 inhibitors, posaconazole and the ravuconazole prodrug E1224, were recently tested in clinical trials for efficacy in indeterminate Chagas disease. The results from these studies show that both drugs cleared parasites from the blood of infected patients at the end of the treatment but that parasitemia rebounded over the following months. In the current study, we sought to identify a dosing regimen of posaconazole that could permanently clear Trypanosoma cruzi from mice with experimental Chagas disease. Infected mice were treated with posaconazole or benznidazole, an established Chagas disease drug, and parasitological cure was defined as an absence of parasitemia recrudescence after immunosuppression. Twenty-day therapy with benznidazole (10 to 100 mg/kg of body weight/day) resulted in a dose-dependent increase in antiparasitic activity, and the 100-mg/kg regimen effected parasitological cure in all treated mice. In contrast, all mice remained infected after a 25-day treatment with posaconazole at all tested doses (10 to 100 mg/kg/day). Further extension of posaconazole therapy to 40 days resulted in only a marginal improvement of treatment outcome. We also observed similar differences in antiparasitic activity between benznidazole and posaconazole in acute T. cruzi heart infections. While benznidazole induced rapid, dose-dependent reductions in heart parasite burdens, the antiparasitic activity of posaconazole plateaued at low doses (3 to 10 mg/kg/day) despite increasing drug exposure in plasma. These observations are in good agreement with the outcomes of recent phase 2 trials with posaconazole and suggest that the efficacy models combined with the pharmacokinetic analysis employed here will be useful in predicting clinical outcomes of new drug candidates.

A series of PPARdelta-selective agonists was investigated and optimized for a favorable in vivo pharmacokinetic profile. Isoxazole LCI765 (17d) was found to be a potent and selective PPARdelta agonist with good in vivo PK properties in mouse (C(max)=5.1 microM, t(1/2)=3.1 h). LCI765 regulated expression of genes involved in energy homeostasis in relevant tissues when dosed orally in C57BL6 mice. A co-crystal structure of compound LCI765 and the LBD of PPARdelta is discussed.

A series of N α -2-benzoxazolyl-α-amino acid-(arylaminoethyl)amides were identified as potent, selective, and noncovalent inhibitors of cathepsin S. Structure–activity relationships including strategies for modulating the selectivities among cathepsins S, K, and L, and in vivo pharmacokinetics are discussed. A X-ray structure of compound 3 bound to the active site of cathepsin S is also reported.

Systematic SAR optimization of the GPR119 agonist lead 1, derived from an internal HTS campaign, led to compound 29. Compound 29 displays significantly improved in vitro activity and oral exposure, leading to GLP1 elevation in acutely dosed mice and reduced glucose excursion in an OGTT study in rats at doses ⩾10 mg/kg.

Screening hit 5 was identified in a biochemical screen for GPR119 agonists. Compound 5 was structurally novel, displayed modest biochemical activity and no oral exposure, but was structurally distinct from typical GPR119 agonist scaffolds. Systematic optimization led to compound 36 with significantly improved in vitro activity and oral exposure, to elevate GLP1 acutely in an in vivo mouse model at a dose of 10mg/kg.

Through scaffold morphing of a known Smoothened antagonist Antag691, a series of novel phenyl imidazole derivatives were developed. Structure-activity-relationship studies and lead optimization led to the discovery of potent, selective and orally bioavailable Smoothened antagonist 19 that is suitable for in vivo studies.

Most malaria drug development focuses on parasite stages detected in red blood cells, even though, to achieve eradication, next-generation drugs active against both erythrocytic and exo-erythrocytic forms would be preferable. We applied a multifactorial approach to a set of >4000 commercially available compounds with previously demonstrated blood-stage activity (median inhibitory concentration < 1 micromolar) and identified chemical scaffolds with potent activity against both forms. From this screen, we identified an imidazolopiperazine scaffold series that was highly enriched among compounds active against Plasmodium liver stages. The orally bioavailable lead imidazolopiperazine confers complete causal prophylactic protection (15 milligrams/kilogram) in rodent models of malaria and shows potent in vivo blood-stage therapeutic activity. The open-source chemical tools resulting from our effort provide starting points for future drug discovery programs, as well as opportunities for researchers to investigate the biology of exo-erythrocytic forms.

[Image: see text] Starting from a hit series from a GNF compound library collection and based on a cell-based proliferation assay of Plasmodium falciparum, a novel imidazolopiperazine scaffold was optimized. SAR for this series of compounds is discussed, focusing on optimization of cellular potency against wild-type and drug resistant parasites and improvement of physiochemical and pharmacokinetic properties. The lead compounds in this series showed good potencies in vitro and decent oral exposure levels in vivo. In a Plasmodium berghei mouse infection model, one lead compound lowered the parasitemia level by 99.4% after administration of 100 mg/kg single oral dose and prolonged mice survival by an average of 17.0 days. The lead compounds were also well-tolerated in the preliminary in vitro toxicity studies and represents an interesting lead for drug development.

The second generation of Bcr-Abl inhibitors nilotinib, dasatinib, and bosutinib developed to override imatinib resistance are not active against the T315I “gatekeeper” mutation. Here we describe a type-II T315I inhibitor 2 (GNF-7), based upon a 3,4-dihydropyrimido[4,5-d]pyrimidin-2(1H)-one scaffold which is capable of potently inhibiting wild-type and T315I Bcr-Abl as well as other clinically relevant Bcr-Abl mutants such as G250E, Q252H, Y253H, E255K, E255V, F317L, and M351T in biochemical and cellular assays. In addition, compound 2 displayed significant in vivo efficacy against T315I-Bcr-Abl without appreciable toxicity in a bioluminescent xenograft mouse model using a transformed T315I-Bcr-Abl-Ba/F3 cell line that has a stable luciferase expression. Compound 2 is among the first type-II inhibitors capable of inhibiting T315I to be described and will serve as a valuable lead to design the third generation Bcr-Abl kinase inhibitors.

Transient transfection of mammalian cells in suspension culture has recently emerged as a very useful method for production of research-scale quantities of recombinant proteins. The most commonly used cell lines for this purpose are suspension-adapted HEK and CHO cells. We report here that the plasma exposure in mice of an IL-23R extracellular domain Fc fusion protein (IL23R-Fc) differed dramatically depending on whether the protein was prepared by transient transfection of HEK or CHO cells. Specifically, IL23R-Fc expressed using CHO cells had about 30-fold higher in vivo plasma exposure compared to the HEK-expressed protein. In contrast to their differing plasma exposures, the HEK- and CHO-expressed proteins had equivalent in vitro biological activity. Characterization of the CHO- and HEK-expressed IL23R-Fc proteins indicated that the differences in in vivo plasma exposure between them are due to differential glycosylation.

Graphical abstract, Screening our in-house compound collection using a cell based Plasmodium falciparum proliferation assay we discovered a known pan-kinase inhibitor scaffold as a hit. Further optimization of this series led us to a novel benzamide scaffold which was devoid of human kinase activity while retaining its antiplasmodial activity. The evolution of this compound series leading to optimized candidates with good cellular potency against multiple strains as well as decent in vivo profile is described in this Letter.

Phospho-ceramide analog-1 (PCERA-1) has been described as a potent in vivo suppressor of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), and thus as a putative drug for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. However, the in vivo cell target of PCERA-1 has not been identified, and its in vivo effect on secretion of other relevant cytokines has not been reported. We have previously shown that PCERA-1 suppresses lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNFalpha production in RAW264.7 macrophages in vitro. We therefore hypothesized that PCERA-1 targets TNFalpha production by primary macrophages. In this study we thus investigated the effect of PCERA-1 on LPS-induced release of TNFalpha, interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12p40, in vivo, and ex vivo. We found that PCERA-1 suppressed production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNFalpha and IL-12p40, and increased production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10, in LPS-challenged mice, and in primary peritoneal macrophages as well as bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) stimulated with LPS and interferon (IFN)-gamma. These activities of PCERA-1 were independent of each other. In contrast, PCREA-1 only slightly affected TNFalpha production in the whole blood assay, where LPS-induced cytokines are mainly produced by monocytes. Moreover, isolated blood monocytes were inert to PCERA-1, but acquired responsiveness to PCERA-1 upon macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF)-induced differentiation into macrophages. Pharmacokinetic analysis in mice showed that while the volume of distribution of PCERA-1 is low, the drug was rapidly exchanged between the peritoneum and the systemic circulation. Together, these results suggest that sensitivity to PCERA-1 increases upon differentiation of blood monocytes into tissue macrophages, and imply a mechanistic role for peritoneal macrophages in the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of PCERA-1. Finally, we show that the mechanism of activity of PCERA-1 and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is distinct, and that PCERA-1 signaling is not mediated by EP2, a PGE2 receptor which is also activated by oxidized phospholipids. The independent and reciprocal modulation of production of TNFalpha and IL-12p40, vs. IL-10, suggests that PCERA-1 may be a candidate drug for the treatment of inflammation-linked diseases.

A novel series of benzo[a]carbazole-based small molecule agonists of the thrombopoietin (Tpo) receptor is reported. Starting from a 3.4 microM high throughput screen hit, members of this series have been identified which are full agonists with functional potency50 nM and oral bioavailability in mice.

Calcium-dependent protein kinases play a crucial role in intracellular calcium signaling in plants, some algae and protozoa. In Plasmodium falciparum, calcium-dependent protein kinase 1 (PfCDPK1) is expressed during schizogony in the erythrocytic stage as well as in the sporozoite stage. It is coexpressed with genes that encode the parasite motor complex, a cellular component required for parasite invasion of host cells, parasite motility and potentially cytokinesis. A targeted gene-disruption approach demonstrated that pfcdpk1 seems to be essential for parasite viability. An in vitro biochemical screen using recombinant PfCDPK1 against a library of 20,000 compounds resulted in the identification of a series of structurally related 2,6,9-trisubstituted purines. Compound treatment caused sudden developmental arrest at the late schizont stage in P. falciparum and a large reduction in intracellular parasites in Toxoplasma gondii, which suggests a possible role for PfCDPK1 in regulation of parasite motility during egress and invasion.

We have identified a novel liver X receptor (LXR) agonist (2) that activates the LXRbeta subtype with selectivity over LXRalpha. LXRbeta selectivity was confirmed using macrophages derived from LXR mutant mice. Despite its selectivity and modest potency, the compound can induce APO-AI-dependent cholesterol efflux from macrophages with full efficacy. Our results indicate that it is possible to achieve significant LXRbeta selectivity in a small molecule while maintaining functional LXR activity.