Application of p21 and klf2 reporter gene assays to identify selective histone deacetylase inhibitors for cancer therapy

Novel 2-aminoanilide histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors were designed to increase their contact with surface residues surrounding the HDAC active site compared to the contacts made by existing clinical 2-aminoanilides such as SNDX-275, MGCD0103, and Chidamide. Their HDAC selectivity was assessed using p21 and klf2 reporter gene assays in HeLa and A204 cells, respectively, which provide a cell-based readout for the inhibition of HDACs associated either with the p21 or klf2 promoter. A subset of the designed compounds selectively induced p21 over klf2 relative to the clinical reference compound SNDX-275. A representative lead compound from this subset had antiproliferative effects in cancer cells associated with induction of acetylated histone H4, endogenous p21, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. The p21- versus klf2-selective compounds described herein may provide a chemical starting point for developing clinically-differentiated HDAC inhibitors for cancer therapy.     

Design,synthesis and biological evaluation of di-substituted cinnamic hydroxamic acids bearing urea/thiourea unit as potent histone deacetylase inhibitors

A novel class of di-substituted cinnamic hydroxamic acid derivatives containing urea or thiourea unit was designed, synthesized and evaluated as HDAC inhibitors. All tested compounds demonstrated significant HDAC inhibitory activities and anti-proliferative effects against diverse human tumor cell lines. Among them, 7l exhibited most potent pan-HDAC inhibitory activity, with an IC₅₀ value of 130 nM. It also showed strong cellular inhibition against diverse cell lines including HCT-116, MCF-7, MDB-MB-435 and NCI-460, with GI₅₀ values of 0.35, 0.22, 0.51 and 0.48 μM, respectively.     

Coumarin-suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid as a fluorescent probe for determining binding affinities and off-rates of histone deacetylase inhibitors

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are intimately involved in epigenetic regulation and, thus, are one of the key therapeutic targets for cancer, and two HDAC inhibitors, namely suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and romidepsin, have been recently approved for cancer treatment. Because the screening and detailed characterization of HDAC inhibitors has been time-consuming, we synthesized coumarin-SAHA (c-SAHA) as a fluorescent probe for determining the binding affinities (K_d) and the dissociation off-rates (k_off) of the enzyme–inhibitor complexes. The determination of the above parameters relies on the changes in the fluorescence emission intensity (λ_ex = 325 nm, λ_em = 400 nm) of c-SAHA due to its competitive binding against other HDAC inhibitors, and such determination neither requires employment of polarization accessories nor is dependent on the fluorescence energy transfer from the enzyme’s tryptophan residues to the probe. Our highly sensitive and robust analytical protocol presented here is applicable to most of the HDAC isozymes, and it can be easily adopted in a high-throughput mode for screening the HDAC inhibitors as well as for quantitatively determining their K_d and k_off values.     

Acetanilide and bromoacetyl-lysine derivatives as activators for human histone deacetylase 8

In the current study, seven compounds (i.e. 1–7) were found to be novel activators for the N^ε-acetyl-lysine deacetylation reaction catalyzed by human histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8). When assessed with the commercially available HDAC8 peptide substrate Fluor-de-Lys®-HDAC8 that harbors the unnatural 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) residue immediately C-terminal to the N^ε-acetyl-lysine residue to be deacetylated, our compounds exhibited comparable activation potency to that of TM-2-51, the strongest HDAC8 activator reported in the current literature. However, when assessed with an AMC-less peptide substrate derived from the native HDAC8 non-histone substrate protein Zinc finger protein ZNF318, while our compounds were all found to be able to activate HDAC8 deacetylation reaction, TM-2-51 was found not to be able to. Our compounds also seemed to be largely selective for HDAC8 over other classical HDACs. Moreover, treatment with the strongest activator among our compounds (i.e. 7) was found to decrease the K_M of the above AMC-less HDAC8 substrate, while nearly maintaining the k_cat of the HDAC8-catalyzed deacetylation on this substrate.     

A highly efficient and selective turn‐on fluorescent sensor for Hg2+, Ag+ and Ag nanoparticles based on a coumarin dithioate derivative

Based on chelation‐enhanced fluorescence, a new fluorescent coumarin derivative probe 3(1‐(7‐hydroxy‐4‐methylcoumarin)ethylidene)hydrazinecarbodithioate for Hg²⁺, Ag⁺ and Ag nanoparticles is reported. Fluorescent probe acts as a rapid and highly selective “off–on” fluorescent probe and fluorescence enhancement by factors 5 to12 times was observed upon selective complexation with Hg²⁺, Ag⁺ and Ag nanoparticles. The molar ratio plots indicated the formation of 1:1 complexes between Hg²⁺ and Ag⁺ with the probe. The linear response range covers a concentration range 0.1 × 10^–5–1.9 × 10^–5 mol/L, 0.1 × 10^–5–2.3 × 10^–5 mol/L and 0.146 × 10^–12–2.63 × 10^–12 mol/L for Hg²⁺, Ag⁺ and Ag nanoparticles, respectively. The interference effect of some anions and cations was also tested. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The discovery of avanafil for the treatment of erectile dysfunction: A novel pyrimidine-5-carboxamide derivative as a potent and highly selective phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor

Novel pyrimidine-5-carboxamide derivatives bearing a 3-chloro-4-methoxybenzylamino group at the 4-position were identified as potent and highly selective phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors. Among them, we successfully found 10j (avanafil) which exhibited a potent relaxant effect on isolated rabbit cavernosum (EC₃₀ = 2.1 nM) and a high isozyme selectivity.