The reversible acetylation of histones is critical for regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. The histone deacetylase inhibitors trichostatin (TSA, 1), MS-275 (2) and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA, 3) arrest growth in transformed cells and in human tumor xenografts. However, 1-3 suffer from lack of specificity among the various HDAC isoforms, prompting us to design and synthesize polyaminohydroxamic acid (PAHA) derivatives 6-21. We felt that PAHAs would be selectively directed to chromatin and associated histones by the positively charged polyamine side chain. At 1 microM, compounds 12, 15 and 20 inhibited HDAC by 74.86, 59.99 and 73.85%, respectively. Although 20 was a less potent HDAC inhibitor than 1, it was more potent than 2, more effective as an initiator of histone hyperacetylation, and significantly more effective than 2 at re-expressing p21Waf1 in ML-1 leukemia cells. On the basis of these results, PAHAs 6-21 represent an important new chemical class of HDAC inhibitors.

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A series of polyaminohydroxamic acids (PAHAs) and polyaminobenzamides (PABAs) were synthesized and evaluated as isoform-selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. These analogues contain a polyamine chain to increase affinity for chromatin and facilitate cellular import. Seven PAHAs inhibited HDAC >50% (1 µM), and two PABAs inhibited HDAC >50% (5 µM). Compound 17 increased acetylated α-tubulin in HCT116 colon tumor cells 253-fold but only modestly increased p21 waf1 and acetylated histones 3 and 4, suggesting that 17 selectively inhibits HDAC 6. PABA 22 alone minimally increased p21 waf1 and acetylated histones 3 and 4 but caused dose-dependent increases in p21 waf1 in combination with 0.1 µM 5-azadeoxycytidine. Finally, 22 appeared to be a substrate for the polyamine transport system. None of these compounds were cytotoxic at 100 µM. PAHAs and PABAs exhibit strikingly different cellular effects from SAHA and have the potential for use in combination antitumor therapies with reduced toxicity.

Anti-viral drugs often suffer from poor intestinal permeability, preventing their delivery via the oral route. The goal of this work was to enhance the intestinal absorption of the low-permeability anti-viral agents zanamivr heptyl ester (ZHE) and guanidino oseltamivir (GO) utilizing an ionpairing approach, as a critical step toward making them oral drugs. The counterion 1-hydroxy-2-napthoic acid (HNAP) was utilized to enhance the lipophilicity and permeability of the highly polar drugs. HNAP substantially increased the log P of the drugs by up to 3.7 log units. Binding constants (K 11aq ) of 388 M −1 for ZHE-HNAP and 2.91 M −1 for GO.-HNAP were obtained by applying a quasi-equilibrium transport model to double-reciprocal plots of apparent octanol-buffer distribution coefficients versus HNAP concentration. HNAP enhanced the apparent permeability (P app ) of both compounds across Caco-2 cell monolayers in a concentration-dependent manner, as substantial P app (0.8 -3.0 × 10 −6 cm/s) was observed in the presence of 6-24 mM HNAP, whereas no detectable transport was observed without counterion. Consistent with a quasiequilibrium transport model, a linear relationship with slope near 1 was obtained from a log-log plot of Caco-2 P app versus HNAP concentration, supporting the ion-pair mechanism behind the permeability enhancement. In the rat jejunal perfusion assay, the addition of HNAP failed to increase the effective permeability (P eff ) of GO. However, the rat jejunal permeability of ZHE was significantly enhanced by the addition of HNAP in a concentration-dependent manner, from essentially zero without HNAP to 4.0 × 10 −5 cm/s with 10 mM HNAP, matching the P eff of the high-permeability standard metoprolol. The success of ZHE-HNAP was explained by its >100-fold stronger K 11aq versus GO-HNAP, making ZHE-HNAP less prone to dissociation and ionexchange with competing endogenous anions and able to remain intact during membrane permeation. Overall, this work presents a novel approach to enable the oral delivery of highly polar anti-viral drugs, and provides new insights into the underlying mechanisms governing the success or failure of the ion-pairing strategy to increase oral absorption.

Four aspartyl proteases known as plasmepsins are involved in the degradation of hemoglobin by Plasmodium falciparum, which causes a large percentage of malaria deaths. The enzyme plasmepsin II (Plm II) is the most extensively studied of these aspartyl proteases and catalyzes the initial step in the breakdown of hemoglobin by the parasite. Several groups have reported the design, synthesis, and evaluation of reversible peptidomimetic inhibitors of Plm II as potential antimalarial agents. We now report four peptidomimetic analogues, compounds 6-9, which are rationally designed to act as mechanism-based inhibitors of Plm II. Three of these analogues produce potent irreversible inactivation of the enzyme with IC(50) values in the low nanomolar range. Of these three compounds, two retain the low micromolar IC(50) values of the parent compound in Plasmodium falciparum (clone 3D7) infected erythrocytes. These analogues are the first examples of fully characterized mechanism-based inactivators for an aspartyl protease and show promise as novel antimalarial agents.

The polyamines putrescine, spermidine and spermine are ubiquitous polycationic compounds that are found in nearly every cell type, and are required to support a wide variety of cellular functions. The existence of multiple cellular effector sites for naturally occurring polyamines implies that there are numerous targets for polyamine-based therapeutic agents. Through a programme aimed at the synthesis and evaluation of biologically active polyamine analogues, our laboratory has identified three distinct structural classes of polyamine derivatives that exhibit promising biological activity in vitro. We have synthesized more than 200 symmetrically and unsymmetrically substituted alkylpolyamines that possess potent antitumour or antiparasitic activity, depending on their backbone architecture and terminal alkyl substituents. Along similar lines, we have developed novel polyamino(bis)guanidines and polyaminobiguanides that are promising antitrypanosomal agents and that interfere with biofilm formation in the pathogenic bacterium Yersinia pestis. Finally, we recently reported a series of PAHAs (polyaminohydroxamic acids) and PABAs (polyaminobenzamides) that inhibit HDACs (histone deacetylases), and in some cases are selective for individual HDAC isoforms. These studies support the hypothesis that polyamine-based small molecules can be developed for use as biochemical probes and as potential therapies for multiple diseases.

Chromatin remodelling enzymes such as the histone deacetylases (HDACs) and histone demethylases such as lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) have been validated as targets for cancer drug discovery. Although a number of HDAC inhibitors have been marketed or are in human clinical trials, the search for isoform-specific HDAC inhibitors is an ongoing effort. In addition, the discovery and development of compounds targeting histone demethylases are in their early stages. Epigenetic modulators used in combination with traditional antitumor agents such as 5-azacytidine represent an exciting new approach to cancer chemotherapy. We have developed multiple series of HDAC inhibitors and LSD1 inhibitors that promote the re-expression of aberrantly silenced genes that are important in human cancer. The design, synthesis and biological activity of these analogues is described herein.

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