Plant cell remodeling by autophagy: Switching peroxisomes for green life

Plant seedlings are not photoautotrophs until they are equipped with photosynthetic machinery. Some plant cells are remodeled after being exposed to light, and a group of peroxisomal proteins are degraded during the remodeling. Autophagy was proposed as one of the mechanisms for the degradation of peroxisomal proteins. We recently showed that ATG7-dependent autophagy is partially responsible for the degradation of obsolete peroxisomal proteins during Arabidopsis seedling growth.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of 1-(2-hydroxy-3-phenyloxypropyl)piperazine derivatives as T-type calcium channel blockers

To obtain selective and potent inhibitor for T-type calcium channel by ligand based drug design, 2-hydroxy-3-phenoxypropyl piperazine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for in vitro activities. Compound 6m and 6q showed high selectivity over hERG channel (IC₅₀ ratio of hERG/α_1G 6m = 8.5, 6q = 18.38) and they were subjected to measure pharmacokinetics profiles. Among them compound 6m showed an excellent pharmacokinetic profile in rats.     

Facile synthesis and biological evaluation of 3,3-diphenylpropanoyl piperazines as T-type calcium channel blockers

We have developed a facile synthesis of 3,3-diphenylpropanamides using Meldrum’s acid derivatives as amide coupling components. The in vitro biological evaluation of the title compounds led to the identification of compound 1h, which has good inhibitory activity against T-type calcium channel (IC₅₀ = 0.83 μM).     

Computational approach to the identification of novel Aurora-A inhibitors

Aurora kinase A has been emerging as a key therapeutic target for the design of anticancer drugs. For the purpose of finding biologically active and novel compounds and providing new ideas for drug-design, we performed virtual screening using commercially available databases. A three-dimensional common feature pharmacophore model was developed with the HipHop program provided in the Catalyst software package, and this model was used as a query for screening the databases. A recursive partitioning (RP) model was developed as a filtering system, which was able to classify active and inactive compounds. Eventually, a step-wise virtual screening procedure was conducted by applying the common feature pharmacophore and the RP model in succession to discover novel potent Aurora-A inhibitors. A total of 68 compounds were selected for testing of their in vitro anticancer activities against various human cancer cell lines. Based on the activity data, we have identified fifteen compounds that warrant further investigation. Several compounds have a high inhibition rate (above 80% at 10 ??M) and a GI₅₀ lower than 5 ??M for the cell lines DU145 and HT29. Enzyme assay for these compounds identified hits with micro molar activity. Compound C11 has the highest activity (IC₅₀ = 5.09 ??M). The hits obtained from this screening scheme could be potential drug candidates after further optimization.     

A Revised Assay for Monitoring Autophagic Flux in Arabidopsis thaliana Reveals Involvement of AUTOPHAGY-RELATED9 in Autophagy

Autophagy targets cytoplasmic cargo to a lytic compartment for degradation. Autophagy-related (Atg) proteins, including the transmembrane protein Atg9, are involved in different steps of autophagy in yeast and mammalian cells. Functional classification of core Atg proteins in plants has not been clearly confirmed, partly because of the limited availability of reliable assays for monitoring autophagic flux. By using proUBQ10-GFP-ATG8a as an autophagic marker, we showed that autophagic flux is reduced but not completely compromised in Arabidopsis thaliana atg9 mutants. In contrast, we confirmed full inhibition of auto-phagic flux in atg7 and that the difference in autophagy was consistent with the differences in mutant phenotypes such as hypersensitivity to nutrient stress and selective autophagy. Autophagic flux is also reduced by an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol kinase. Our data indicated that atg9 is phenotypically distinct from atg7 and atg2 in Arabidopsis, and we proposed that ATG9 and phosphatidylinositol kinase activity contribute to efficient autophagy in Arabidopsis.     

Novel quinazolinone derivatives as 5-HT7 receptor ligands

5-HT(7) receptor antagonists generated antidepressant-like effects in animal model and the involvement of the 5-HT(7) receptor in other pathophysiological mechanisms such as thermoregulation, learning and memory, and sleep has been highlighted by various studies. As one of our efforts to discover a new type of 5-HT(7) receptor antagonists, we here report on the synthesis and binding affinities to the 5-HT(7) receptor of the quinazolinone library 1, which was designed with various substituents (X, Y, R(1), and R(2)) on the aromatic rings and different carbon chain length. Total 85 compounds of the quinazolinone library 1 were synthesized and the binding affinities of all the synthesized compounds were obtained by radioligand binding assay for the 5-HT(7) receptor. Among the 85 compounds, 24 compounds show very good binding affinities with IC(50) values below 100 nM. Mainly the compounds with IC(50) values below 100 nM have o-OMe or o-OEt as R(2) substituent. The compound with the best binding affinity is 1-68 of which the IC(50) value is 12 nM. In in vivo animal study, some synthesized compounds really have the antidepressant activity in the forced swimming test in mice.     

Novel 5,6-disubstituted pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives as broad spectrum antiproliferative agents: Synthesis,cell based assays,kinase profile and molecular docking study

Two new series of 5-subtituted and 5,6-disubstituted pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine octamides (4a–o and 6a–g) and their corresponding free amines 5a–m and 7a–g have been synthesized and biologically evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against three human cancer cell lines. The 5,6-disubstituted octamides 6d–g as well as the amine derivative 7b have shown the best anticancer activity with single digit micromolar GI₅₀ values over the tested cancer cells, and low cytotoxic effects (GI₅₀?>?10.0?µM) against HFF-1 normal cell. A structure activity relationship (SAR) study has been established and disclosed that terminal octamide moiety at C2 as well as disubstitution with fluorobenzyl piperazines at C5 and C6 of pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine are the key structural features prerequisite for best antiproliferative activity. Moreover, the most active member 6f was tested for its antiproliferative activity over a panel of 60 cancer cell lines at NCI, and exhibited distinct broad spectrum anticancer activity with submicromolar GI₅₀ and TGI values over multiple cancer cells. Kinase profile of compound 6f over 53 oncogenic kinases at 10?µM concentration showed its highly selective inhibitory activity towards FGFR4, Tie2 and TrkA kinases. The observed activity of 6f against TrkA (IC₅₀?=?2.25?µM), FGFR4 (IC₅₀?=?6.71?µM) and Tie2 (IC₅₀?=?6.84?µM) was explained by molecular docking study, which also proposed that 6f may be a type III kinase inhibitor, binding to an allosteric site rather than kinase hinge region. Overall, compound 6f may serve as a promising anticancer lead compound that could be further optimized for development of potent anticancer agents.