Highly invasive tumor cells are characterized by a metabolic switch, known as the Warburg effect, from "normal" oxidative phosphorylation to increased glycolysis even under sufficiently oxygenated conditions. This dependence on glycolysis also confers a growth advantage to cells present in hypoxic regions of the tumor. One of the key enzymes involved in glycolysis, the muscle isoform of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH-A), is overexpressed by metastatic cancer cells and is linked to the vitality of tumors in hypoxia. This enzyme may be considered as a potential target for new anticancer agents, since its inhibition cuts cancer energetic and anabolic supply, thus reducing the metastatic and invasive potential of cancer cells. We have discovered new and efficient N-hydroxyindole-based inhibitors of LDH-A, which are isoform-selective (over LDH-B) and competitive with both the substrate (pyruvate) and the cofactor (NADH). The antiproliferative activity of these compounds was confirmed on a series of cancer cell lines, and they proved to be particularly effective under hypoxic conditions. Moreover, NMR experiments showed that these compounds are able to reduce the glucose-to-lactate conversion inside the cell.

Three-dimensional models of the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors were constructed by means of a molecular modeling procedure, using the X-ray structure of bovine rhodopsin as the initial template, and taking into account the available site-directed mutagenesis data. The cannabinoid system was studied by means of docking techniques. An analysis of the interaction of WIN55212-2 with both receptors showed that CB2/CB1 selectivity is mainly determined by the interaction in the CB2 with the nonconserved residues S3.31 and F5.46, whose importance was suggested by site-directed mutagenesis data. We also carried out an automated docking of several ligands into the CB2 model, using the AUTODOCK 3.0 program; the good correlation obtained between the estimated free energy binding and the experimental binding data confirmed our binding hypothesis and the reliability of the model.

Molecular docking strategies are one of the most widely used techniques for predicting the binding mode of a ligand and for obtaining new hits in virtual screening studies. In order to improve the accuracy of this approach, we tested the reliability of applying a consensus docking protocol by combining ten different docking procedures. The analysis was carried out in terms of consensus cross-docking and by using an enriched database. The results highlight that from a qualitative point of view consensus docking is able to predict the ligand binding pose better than the single docking programs and is also able to give hints concerning the reliability of the docking pose. With regard to the virtual screening studies, consensus docking was evaluated for three different targets of the Directory of Useful Decoys (DUD), and the obtained results suggest that this approach performs as well as the best available methods found in the literature, therefore supporting the idea that this procedure can be profitably applied for the identification of new hits.

The CB(2) receptor activation can be exploited for the treatment of diseases such as chronic pain and tumors of immune origin, devoid of psychotropic activity. On the basis of our already reported 1,8-naphthyridin-4(1H)-on-3-carboxamide derivatives, new 1,8-naphthyridin-2(1H)-on-3-carboxamide derivatives were designed, synthesized, and tested for their affinities toward the human CB(1) and CB(2) cannabinoid receptors. Some of the reported compounds showed a subnanomolar CB(2) affinity with a CB(1)/CB(2) selectivity ratio greater than 200 (compounds 6, 12, cis-12, 13, and cis-13). Further studies revealed that compound 12, which presented benzyl and carboxy-4-methylcyclohexylamide substituents bound in the 1 and 3 positions, exerted a CB(2)-mediated inhibitory action on immunological human basophil activation. On the human T cell leukemia line Jurkat the same derivative induced a concentration-dependent decrease of cell viability. The obtained results suggest that 1,8-naphthyridin-2(1H)-on-3-carboxamides represent a new scaffold very suitable for the development of new promising CB(2) agonists.