Simple heteroaryl modifications in the 4,5-diarylisoxazol-3-carboxylic acid scaffold favorably modulates the activity as dual mPGES-1/5-LO inhibitors with in vivo efficacy

• Published in: Bioorganic chemistry 2021-07, Vol.112, p.104861-104861, Article 104861
• Main Authors: Gürses, Tuğba, Olğaç, Abdurrahman, Garscha, Ulrike, Gür Maz, Tuğçe, Bal, Nur Banu, Uludağ, Orhan, Çalışkan, Burcu, Schubert, Ulrich S., Werz, Oliver, Banoglu, Erden
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5-lipoxygenase; 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein; Inflammation; Isoxazole; Microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1
• ISSN: 0045-2068; 1090-2120
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2021.104861

[Display omitted] •Single-molecule-hits-multiple-targets approach has been applied.•Structural tuning of BRP-187 led to target specific inhibitors.•Simple heteroaryl modifications on BRP-187 created dual inhibitors of mPGES-1/5-LO.Compound 18 simultaneously inhibits mPGES-1 and 5-LO with in vivo efficacy. Microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1 (mPGES-1), 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) and 5- lipoxygenase-activating protein (FLAP) are key for biosynthesis of proinflammatory lipid mediators and pharmacologically relevant drug targets. In the present study, we made an attempt to explore the role of small heteroaromatic fragments on the 4,5-diarylisoxazol-3-carboxylic acid scaffold, which are selected to interact with focused regions in the active sites of mPGES-1, 5-LO and FLAP. We report that the simple structural variations on the benzyloxyaryl side-arm of the scaffold significantly influence the selectivity against mPGES-1, 5-LO and FLAP, enabling to produce multi-target inhibitors of these protein targets, exemplified by compound 18 (IC50 mPGES-1 = 0.16 µM; IC50 5-LO = 0.39 µM) with in vivo efficacy in animal model of inflammation. The computationally modeled binding structures of these new inhibitors for three targets provide clues for rational design of modified structures as multi-target inhibitors. In conclusion, the simple synthetic procedure, and the possibility of enhancing the potency of this class of inhibitors through structural modifications pave the way for further development of new multi-target inhibitors against mPGES-1, 5-LO and FLAP, with potential application as anti-inflammatory agents.