Structure-based drug design combined with homology modeling techniques were used to develop potent inhibitors of HDAC6 that display superior selectivity for the HDAC6 isozyme compared to other inhibitors. These inhibitors can be assembled in a few synthetic steps, as thus are readily scaled up for in vivo studies. An optimized compound from this series, designated Tubastatin A, was tested in primary cortical neuron cultures in which it was found to induce elevated levels of acetylated α-tubulin, but not histone, consistent with its HDAC6 selectivity. Tubastatin A also conferred dose-dependent protection in primary cortical neuron cultures against glutathione depletion-induced oxidative stress. Importantly, when given alone at all concentrations tested, this hydroxamate-containing HDAC6-selective compound displayed no neuronal toxicity, thus forecasting the potential application of this agent and its analogs to neurodegenerative conditions.

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(-)-Huperzine A (HupA) is found in an extract from a club moss that has been used for centuries in Chinese folk medicine. Its action has been attributed to its ability to strongly inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The crystal structure of the complex of AChE with optically pure HupA at 2.5 A resolution shows an unexpected orientation for the inhibitor with surprisingly few strong direct interactions with protein residues to explain its high affinity. This structure is compared to the native structure of AChE devoid of any inhibitor as determined to the same resolution. An analysis of the affinities of structural analogues of HupA, correlated with their interactions with the protein, shows the importance of individual hydrophobic interactions between HupA and aromatic residues in the active-site gorge of AChE.

The prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is increasingly recognized as a viable target for imaging and therapy of cancer. We prepared seven 99mTc/Re-labeled compounds by attaching known Tc/Re chelating agents to an amino-functionalized PSMA inhibitor (lys-NHCONH-glu) with or without a variable length linker moiety. Ki values ranged from 0.17 to 199 nM. Ex vivo biodistribution and in vivo imaging demonstrated the degree of specific binding to engineered PSMA+ PC3 PIP tumors. PC3-PIP cells are derived from PC3 that have been transduced with the gene for PSMA. Despite demonstrating nearly the lowest PSMA inhibitory potency of this series, [99mTc(CO)3(L1)]+ (L1 = (2-pyridylmethyl)2N(CH2)4CH(CO2H)-NHCO-(CH2)6CO-NH-lys-NHCONH-glu) showed the highest, most selective PIP tumor uptake, at 7.9 ± 4.0% injected dose per gram of tissue at 30 min postinjection. Radioactivity cleared from nontarget tissues to produce a PIP to flu (PSMA-PC3) ratio of 44:1 at 120 min postinjection. PSMA can accommodate the steric requirements of 99mTc/Re complexes within PSMA inhibitors, the best results achieved with a linker moiety between the ε amine of the urea lysine and the chelator.