Cell adhesion inhibitory activity of (d)-corynoline, a hexahydrobenzo[c]phenanthridine-type alkaloid, and its structure-activity relationship, studied by X-ray crystal structure analysis and molecular docking study

Corynoline (1), a hexahydrobenzo[c]phenanthridine-type alkaloid, exhibited the concentration-dependent inhibition for the adhesion of human polymorphonuclear leukocyte and eosinophil to human umbilical vein cultured endothelial cell in the concentration range of showing no significant cytotoxicity for the cell: IC(50) value=72.4 microM for (d)-1 and 156.7 microM for (l)-1. This shows the potent anti-inflammatory and/or immunosuppressive activity of 1. To elucidate possible structure-activity relationship, the conformational/structural feature of (d)-1 was investigated by X-ray crystal structure analysis and molecular orbital energy calculations, and the docking study was performed for its interaction with the D1-domain of ICAM-1 (intracellular adhesion molecule-1). A plausible model was proposed, in which all polar atoms of (d)-1 are linked by hydrogen bonds or electrostatic interactions with the functional residues of ICAM-1, that have been supposed to be necessary for the binding with LFA-1 (leukocyte function-associated antigen-1). This suggests the potent inhibitory activity of 1 for the ICAM-1/LFA-1 adhesion and would be important on developing the clinically usable drugs for the inflammatory diseases.