Project description:Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are promising new epi-drugs, but the presence of both class I and class II enzymes in HDAC complexes precludes a detailed elucidation of the individual HDAC functions. By using the class II-specific HDAC inhibitor MC1568, we separated class I- and class II-dependent effects and defined the roles of class II enzymes in muscle differentiation in cultured cells and in vivo. MC1568 arrests myogenesis by (i) decreasing myocyte enhancer factor 2D (MEF2D) expression, (ii) by stabilizing the HDAC4-HDAC3-MEF2D complex, and (iii) paradoxically, by inhibiting differentiation-induced MEF2D acetylation. In vivo MC1568 shows an apparent tissue-selective HDAC inhibition. In skeletal muscle and heart, MC1568 inhibits the activity of HDAC4 and HDAC5 without affecting HDAC3 activity, thereby leaving MEF2-HDAC complexes in a repressed state. Our results suggest that HDAC class II-selective inhibitors might have a therapeutic potential for the treatment of muscle and heart diseases.
Project description:The application of class I HDAC inhibitors as cancer therapies is well established, but more recently their development for nononcological indications has increased. We report here on the generation of improved class I selective human HDAC inhibitors based on an ethylketone zinc binding group (ZBG) in place of the hydroxamic acid that features the majority of HDAC inhibitors. We also describe a novel set of HDAC3 isoform selective inhibitors that show stronger potency and selectivity than the most commonly used HDAC3 selective tool compound RGFP966. These compounds are again based on an alternative ZBG with respect to the ortho-anilide that is featured in HDAC3 selective compounds reported to date.
Project description:Potent and selective class IIa HDAC tetrasubstituted cyclopropane hydroxamic acid inhibitors were identified with high oral bioavailability that exhibited good brain and muscle exposure. Compound 14 displayed suitable properties for assessment of the impact of class IIa HDAC catalytic site inhibition in preclinical disease models.
Project description:We hereby describe the rationale synthesis and biochemical evaluation of the most powerful and selective inhibitors of class II fructose bis-phosphate aldolases so far reported. These inhibitors are of potential therapeutic interest, since the class II enzyme is present exclusively in microorganisms (among which many pathogenic species) and is absent from man, plants, and animals.
Project description:HIV persistence in latently infected, resting CD4+ T cells is broadly considered a barrier to eradicate HIV. Activation of the provirus using latency-reversing agents (LRAs) followed by immune-mediated clearance to purge reservoirs has been touted as a promising therapeutic approach. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) and histone acetyltransferases (HATs) control the acetylation level of lysine residues in histones to regulate the gene transcription. Several clinical HDAC inhibitors had been examined as LRAs, which induced HIV activation in vitro and in vivo. Here we report the discovery of a series of selective and potent class I HDAC inhibitors based on aryl ketones as a zinc binding group, which reversed HIV latency using a Jurkat model of HIV latency in 2C4 cells. The SAR led to the discovery of a highly selective class I HDAC inhibitor 10 with excellent potency. HDACi 10 induces the HIV gag P24 protein in patient latent CD4+ T cells.
Project description:Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors (HDIs) have therapeutic potentials for treating cancer and other diseases. Modulation of gene expression by HDIs is a major mechanism underlying their therapeutic effects. A novel class of HDIs with a previously undescribed benzoylhydrazide scaffold has been discovered through a high throughput screening campaign. Using microarray profiling of gene expression, we have previously demonstrated that treatment of breast cancer cells with a lead benzoylhydrazide HDI UF010 results in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, likely through activation of tumor suppression pathways with concurrent inhibition of oncogenic pathways. In this brief report, we show methodological and analytical details and discuss additional pathways such as immune signaling that are affected by UF010. Raw and processed data from the microarray were deposited in NCBI's Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database under the accession number: GSE56823.
Project description:Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a class of epigenetic enzymes that regulate gene expression by histone deacetylation. Altered HDAC function has been linked to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, making HDACs popular therapeutic targets. In this study, we describe a screening approach for identification of compounds that inhibit endogenous class I and II HDACs. A homogeneous, luminogenic HDAC I/II assay was optimized in a 1536-well plate format in several human cancer cell lines, including HCT116 and human neural stem cells. The assay confirmed 37 known HDAC inhibitors from two libraries of known epigenetics-active compounds. Using the assay, we identified a group of potential HDAC inhibitors by screening the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Pharmaceutical Collection of 2527 small-molecule drugs. The selected compounds showed similar HDAC I/II inhibitory potency and efficacy values in both HCT116 and neural stem cells. Several previously unidentified HDAC inhibitors were further evaluated and profiled for their selectivity against a panel of 10 HDAC I/II isoforms using fluorogenic HDAC biochemical assays. In summary, our results show that several novel HDAC inhibitors, including nafamostat and piceatannol, have been identified using the HDAC I/II cell-based assay, and multiple cell types have been validated for high-throughput screening of large chemical libraries.
Project description:The identification of recurrent somatic mutations in genes encoding epigenetic enzymes has provided a strong rationale for the development of compounds that target the epigenome for the treatment of cancer. This notion is supported by biochemical studies demonstrating aberrant recruitment of epigenetic enzymes such as histone deacetylases (HDACs) and histone methyltransferases to promoter regions through association with oncogenic fusion proteins such as PML-RARα and AML1-ETO. HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) are potent inducers of tumor cell apoptosis; however, it remains unclear why tumor cells are more sensitive to HDACi-induced cell death than normal cells. Herein, we assessed the biological and molecular responses of isogenic normal and transformed cells to the FDA-approved HDACi vorinostat and romidepsin. Both HDACi selectively killed cells of diverse tissue origin that had been transformed through the serial introduction of different oncogenes. Time-course microarray expression profiling revealed that normal and transformed cells transcriptionally responded to vorinostat treatment. Over 4200 genes responded differently to vorinostat in normal and transformed cells and gene ontology and pathway analyses identified a tumor-cell-selective pro-apoptotic gene-expression signature that consisted of BCL2 family genes. In particular, HDACi induced tumor-cell-selective upregulation of the pro-apoptotic gene BMF and downregulation of the pro-survival gene BCL2A1 encoding BFL-1. Maintenance of BFL-1 levels in transformed cells through forced expression conferred vorinostat resistance, indicating that specific and selective engagement of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway underlies the tumor-cell-selective apoptotic activities of these agents. The ability of HDACi to affect the growth and survival of tumor cells whilst leaving normal cells relatively unharmed is fundamental to their successful clinical application. This study provides new insight into the transcriptional effects of HDACi in human donor-matched normal and transformed cells, and implicates specific molecules and pathways in the tumor-selective cytotoxic activity of these compounds.
Project description:Five pathways involving different ring structures led to generation of fourteen thienylbenzamides (7-20) which display the structure-activity relationships of class I HDAC inhibitors. All the synthesised compounds inhibit HDAC1 and HDAC2 selectively over other isoforms and many inhibit DLD1 and HCT116 cells more effectively than a parent compound. Compounds 8 and 16 inhibit HCT116 cells by activation of the apoptosis pathway.