No abstract

Bacterial resistance development has become a very serious clinical problem for many classes of antibiotics. The 3-aryl-2-oxazolidinones are a relatively new class of synthetic antibacterial agents, having a new mechanism of action which involves very early inhibition of bacterial protein synthesis. We have prepared two potent, synthetic oxazolidinones, U-100592 and U-100766, which are currently in clinical development for the treatment of serious multidrug-resistant Gram-positive bacterial infections caused by strains of staphylococci, streptococci, and enterococci. The in vitro and in vivo (po and iv) activities of U-100592 and U-100766 against representative strains are similar to those of vancomycin. U-100592 and U-100766 demonstrate potent in vitro activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A novel and practical asymmetric synthesis of (5S)-(acetamidomethyl)-2-oxazolidinones has been developed and is employed for the synthesis of U-100592 and U-100766. This involves the reaction of N-lithioarylcarbamates with (R)-glycidyl butyrate, resulting in excellent yields and high enantiomeric purity of the intermediate (R)-5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-oxazolidinones.

The development of bacterial resistance to currently available antibacterial agents is a growing global health problem. Of particular concern are infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens which are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in both the hospital and community settings. A number of solutions to the problem of bacterial resistance are possible. The most common approach is to continue modifying existing classes of antibacterial agents to provide new analogues with improved attributes. Other successful strategies are to combine existing antibacterial agents with other drugs as well as the development of improved diagnostic procedures that may lead to rapid identification of the causative pathogen and permit the use of antibacterial agents with a narrow spectrum of activity. Finally, and most importantly, the discovery of novel classes of antibacterial agents employing new mechanisms of action has considerable promise. Such agents would exhibit a lack of cross-resistance with existing antimicrobial drugs. This review describes the work leading to the discovery of linezolid, the first clinically useful oxazolidinone antibacterial agent.

A series of new nitrogen-carbon-linked (azolylphenyl)oxazolidinone antibacterial agents has been prepared in an effort to expand the spectrum of activity of this class of antibiotics to include Gram-negative organisms. Pyrrole, pyrazole, imidazole, triazole, and tetrazole moieties have been used to replace the morpholine ring of linezolid (2). These changes resulted in the preparation of compounds with good activity against the fastidious Gram-negative organisms Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis. The unsubstituted pyrrolyl analogue 3 and the 1H-1,2,3-triazolyl analogue 6 have MICs against H. influenzae = 4 microgram/mL and M. catarrhalis = 2 microgram/mL. Various substituents were also placed on the azole moieties in order to study their effects on antibacterial activity in vitro and in vivo. Interesting differences in activity were observed for many analogues that cannot be rationalized solely on the basis of sterics and position/number of nitrogen atoms in the azole ring. Differences in activity rely strongly on subtle changes in the electronic character of the overall azole systems. Aldehyde, aldoxime, and cyano azoles generally led to dramatic improvements in activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria relative to unsubstituted counterparts. However, amide, ester, amino, hydroxy, alkoxy, and alkyl substituents resulted in no improvement or a loss in antibacterial activity. The placement of a cyano moiety on the azole often generates analogues with interesting antibacterial activity in vitro and in vivo. In particular, the 3-cyanopyrrole, 4-cyanopyrazole, and 4-cyano-1H-1,2,3-triazole congeners 28, 50, and 90 had S. aureus MICs

During the course of our investigations in the oxazolidinone antibacterial agent area, we have identified a subclass with especially potent in vitro activity against mycobacteria. The salient structural feature of these oxazolidinone analogues, 6 (U-100480), 7 (U-101603), and 8 (U-101244), is their appended thiomorpholine moiety. The rational design, synthesis, and evaluation of the in vitro antimycobacterial activity of these analogues is described. Potent activity against a screening strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was demonstrated by 6 and 7 (minimum inhibitory concentrations or MIC's < or = 0.125 micrograms/mL). Oxazolidinones 6 and 8 exhibit MIC90 values of 0.50 micrograms/mL or less against a panel of organisms consisting of five drug-sensitive and five multidrug-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis, with 6 being the most active congener. Potent in vitro activity against other mycobacterial species was also demonstrated by 6. For example, 6 exhibited excellent in vitro activity against multiple clinical isolates of Mycobacterium avium complex (MIC's = 0.5-4 micrograms/mL). Orally administered 6 displays in vivo efficacy against M. tuberculosis and M. avium similar to that of clinical comparators isoniazid and azithromycin, respectively. Consideration of these factors, along with a favorable pharmaco-kinetic and chronic toxicity profile in rats, suggests that 6 (U-100480) is a promising antimycobacterial agent.

The emergence of new antibiotic-resistance in the significant Gram-positive pathogens in the last decade created a substantial medical need for new classes of antibacterial agents. Pharmacia Corporation scientists initiated a discovery research program in oxazolidinone chemistry and biology. Indanone-, tetralone-, and indoline-subunit oxazolidinones provided proof-of-concept interim improvements in antibacterial activity and safety SAR for the program. A method for enantiomeric enrichment of analogs was developed and intensive synthesis and evaluation efforts were undertaken with three oxazolidinone subclasses; the piperazine, indoline, and tropones. Members of the piperazinyl-phenyloxazolidinones possessed the most suitable chemical characteristics and biologic activity of the three subclasses. The monofluorophenyl congener eperezolid and the morpholino analog linezolid emerged as the first clinical candidates from the piperazine oxazolidinones. Linezolid was selected for continued human clinical evaluation based upon its' superior pharmacokinetic profile. Microbiologic testing revealed that linezolid compared very favorably against comparator antibiotics in vitro and in animal infection models. Linezolid possessed a unique mechanism of action in that it inhibited functional 70S initiation complex formation and did not cross-react with existing bacterial resistance. Oral bioavailability in humans was determined to be 100% and twice daily dosing in humans resulted in blood levels which even at trough values were in excess of the MIC90 for significant Gram-positive pathogens. The preclinical promise of linezolid was realized in human clinical trials where linezolid was highly efficacious in the treatment of medically significant Gram-positive infections.

Linezolid is a new oxazolidinone with potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive cocci; it uniquely inhibits bacterial translation through inhibition of 70S initiation complex formation. The effects of sub-growth-inhibitory concentrations of linezolid on the expression of various structural and soluble virulence factors of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes were examined. For S. aureus, strains Wood 46 and Cowan 1 (NCTC 8532) were used to measure protein A, coagulase, alpha-haemolysin (hla) and delta-haemolysin (hld). For S. pyogenes, strain NCTC 9994 was used to measure M protein, streptolysin O (SLO) and DNase. Coagulase was assayed by clotting of citrated rabbit plasma, and hla, hld and SLO by lysis of rabbit, human and horse erythrocytes, respectively. Protein A and M protein were measured indirectly using bacterial susceptibility to phagocytic ingestion of radiolabelled bacteria by human neutrophils. When S. aureus was grown in 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 MIC, linezolid, coagulase, hla and hld production were impaired. Susceptibility to phagocytosis was changed by growth in the presence of 1/2 MIC linezolid compared with that in its absence (50.8 +/- 4.1% versus 38.9 +/- 2.9%; P

QPT-1 was discovered in a compound library by high-throughput screening and triage for substances with whole-cell antibacterial activity. This totally synthetic compound is an unusual barbituric acid derivative whose activity resides in the (؊)-enantiomer. QPT-1 had activity against a broad spectrum of pathogenic, antibioticresistant bacteria, was nontoxic to eukaryotic cells, and showed oral efficacy in a murine infection model, all before any medicinal chemistry optimization. Biochemical and genetic characterization showed that the QPT-1 targets the ␤ subunit of bacterial type II topoisomerases via a mechanism of inhibition distinct from the mechanisms of fluoroquinolones and novobiocin. Given these attributes, this compound represents a promising new class of antibacterial agents. The success of this reverse genomics effort demonstrates the utility of exploring strategies that are alternatives to target-based screens in antibacterial drug discovery.