Low-molecular-weight beta-sulfonyl- and beta-sulfinylhydroxamic acid derivatives have been synthesized and found to be potent inhibitors of Escherichia coli peptide deformylase (PDF). Most of the compounds synthesized and tested displayed antibacterial activities that cover several pathogens found in respiratory tract infections, including Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. The potential of these compounds as antibacterial agents is discussed with respect to selectivity, intracellular concentrations in bacteria, and potential for resistance development.
Fluorogenic substrates for assaying novel proteolytic enzymes could be rapidly identified using an easy, solid-phase combinatorial assay technology. The methodology was validated with leader peptidase of Escherichia coli using a subset of an intramolecularly quenched fluorogenic peptide library. The technique was extended toward the discovery of substrates for a new aspartic protease of pharmaceutical relevance (human napsin A). We demonstrated for the first time known to us that potent fluorogenic substrates can be discovered using extracts of cells expressing recombinant enzyme to screen the peptide library. The straightforward and rapid optimization of protease substrates greatly facilitates the drug discovery process by speeding up the development of high throughput screening assays and thus helps more effective exploitation of the enormous body of information and chemical structures emerging from genomics and combinatorial chemistry technologies.
Cognitive impairment (CI) has been recognized as a core feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and schizophrenia. The 5-HT(6) receptor is an attractive target for the development of cognitive enhancers due to its unique localization and pharmacology. 5-HT(6) receptor antagonists have been shown to modulate multiple neurotransmitter systems and therefore enhance cognition in preclinical studies. This premise translated into the clinical efficacy of the 5-HT(6) receptor antagonist SB-742457 in mild-to-moderate AD patients. Advances in the understanding of the structure-activity-relationship, the design of novel 5-HT(6) receptor ligands and their potential application for the treatment of CI are reviewed.
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