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The Investigational Drug VT-1129 Is a Highly Potent Inhibitor of Cryptococcus Species CYP51 but Only Weakly Inhibits the Human Enzyme.

ABSTRACT: Cryptococcosis is a life-threatening disease often associated with HIV infection. Three Cryptococcus species CYP51 enzymes were purified and catalyzed the 14?-demethylation of lanosterol, eburicol, and obtusifoliol. The investigational agent VT-1129 bound tightly to all three CYP51 proteins (dissociation constant [Kd] range, 14 to 25 nM) with affinities similar to those of fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole, clotrimazole, and ketoconazole (Kd range, 4 to 52 nM), whereas VT-1129 bound weakly to human CYP51 (Kd, 4.53 ?M). VT-1129 was as effective as conventional triazole antifungal drugs at inhibiting cryptococcal CYP51 activity (50% inhibitory concentration [IC50] range, 0.14 to 0.20 ?M), while it only weakly inhibited human CYP51 activity (IC50, ?600 ?M). Furthermore, VT-1129 weakly inhibited human CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP3A4, suggesting a low drug-drug interaction potential. Finally, the cellular mode of action for VT-1129 was confirmed to be CYP51 inhibition, resulting in the depletion of ergosterol and ergosta-7-enol and the accumulation of eburicol, obtusifolione, and lanosterol/obtusifoliol in the cell membranes.

SUBMITTER: Warrilow AG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4958158 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Investigational Drug VT-1129 Is a Highly Potent Inhibitor of Cryptococcus Species CYP51 but Only Weakly Inhibits the Human Enzyme.

Warrilow Andrew G S AG Parker Josie E JE Price Claire L CL Nes W David WD Garvey Edward P EP Hoekstra William J WJ Schotzinger Robert J RJ Kelly Diane E DE Kelly Steven L SL

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy 20160722 8

Cryptococcosis is a life-threatening disease often associated with HIV infection. Three Cryptococcus species CYP51 enzymes were purified and catalyzed the 14α-demethylation of lanosterol, eburicol, and obtusifoliol. The investigational agent VT-1129 bound tightly to all three CYP51 proteins (dissociation constant [Kd] range, 14 to 25 nM) with affinities similar to those of fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole, clotrimazole, and ketoconazole (Kd range, 4 to 52 nM), whereas VT-1129 bound weakly ...[more]

PMID: 27161631

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Project description:BackgroundChagas Disease, a WHO- and NIH-designated neglected tropical disease, is endemic in Latin America and an emerging infection in North America and Europe as a result of population moves. Although a major cause of morbidity and mortality due to heart failure, as well as inflicting a heavy economic burden in affected regions, Chagas Disease elicits scant notice from the pharmaceutical industry because of adverse economic incentives. The discovery and development of new routes to chemotherapy for Chagas Disease is a clear priority.Methodology/principal findingsThe similarity between the membrane sterol requirements of pathogenic fungi and those of the parasitic protozoon Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas human cardiopathy, has led to repurposing anti-fungal azole inhibitors of sterol 14?-demethylase (CYP51) for the treatment of Chagas Disease. To diversify the therapeutic pipeline of anti-Chagasic drug candidates we exploited an approach that included directly probing the T. cruzi CYP51 active site with a library of synthetic small molecules. Target-based high-throughput screening reduced the library of ?104,000 small molecules to 185 hits with estimated nanomolar K(D) values, while cross-validation against T. cruzi-infected skeletal myoblast cells yielded 57 active hits with EC(50) <10 µM. Two pools of hits partially overlapped. The top hit inhibited T. cruzi with EC(50) of 17 nM and was trypanocidal at 40 nM.Conclusions/significanceThe hits are structurally diverse, demonstrating that CYP51 is a rather permissive enzyme target for small molecules. Cheminformatic analysis of the hits suggests that CYP51 pharmacology is similar to that of other cytochromes P450 therapeutic targets, including thromboxane synthase (CYP5), fatty acid ?-hydroxylases (CYP4), 17?-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase (CYP17) and aromatase (CYP19). Surprisingly, strong similarity is suggested to glutaminyl-peptide cyclotransferase, which is unrelated to CYP51 by sequence or structure. Lead compounds developed by pharmaceutical companies against these targets could also be explored for efficacy against T. cruzi.

Dataset Information

The Investigational Drug VT-1129 Is a Highly Potent Inhibitor of Cryptococcus Species CYP51 but Only Weakly Inhibits the Human Enzyme.

Publications

The Investigational Drug VT-1129 Is a Highly Potent Inhibitor of Cryptococcus Species CYP51 but Only Weakly Inhibits the Human Enzyme.

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