Design of PAP-1, a Selective Small Molecule Kv1.3 Blocker, for the Suppression of Effector Memory T Cells in Autoimmune Diseases

• Published in: Molecular pharmacology 2005-11, Vol.68 (5), p.1254-1270
• Main Authors: Schmitz, Alexander, Sankaranarayanan, Ananthakrishnan, Azam, Philippe, Schmidt-Lassen, Kristina, Homerick, Daniel, Hänsel, Wolfram, Wulff, Heike
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Autoimmune Diseases - drug therapy; Autoimmune Diseases - immunology; Cell Line; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors; Drug Design; Female; Humans; Hypersensitivity, Delayed - prevention & control; Immunologic Memory - drug effects; Immunosuppressive Agents - chemical synthesis; Immunosuppressive Agents - pharmacology; Lymphocyte Activation - drug effects; Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins; Potassium Channel Blockers - chemical synthesis; Potassium Channel Blockers - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Structure-Activity Relationship; T-Lymphocytes - drug effects; T-Lymphocytes - immunology
• ISSN: 0026-895X; 1521-0111
• DOI: 10.1124/mol.105.015669

The lymphocyte K + channel Kv1.3 constitutes an attractive pharmacological target for the selective suppression of terminally differentiated effector memory T (T EM ) cells in T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes. Unfortunately, none of the existing small-molecule Kv1.3 blockers is selective, and many of them, such as correolide, 4-phenyl-4-[3-(methoxyphenyl)-3-oxo-2-azapropyl]cyclohexanone, and our own compound Psora-4 inhibit the cardiac K + channel Kv1.5. By further exploring the structure-activity relationship around Psora-4 through a combination of traditional medicinal chemistry and whole-cell patch-clamp, we identified a series of new phenoxyalkoxypsoralens that exhibit 2- to 50-fold selectivity for Kv1.3 over Kv1.5, depending on their exact substitution pattern. The most potent and “drug-like” compound of this series, 5-(4-phenoxybutoxy)psoralen (PAP-1), blocks Kv1.3 in a use-dependent manner, with a Hill coefficient of 2 and an EC 50 of 2 nM, by preferentially binding to the C-type inactivated state of the channel. PAP-1 is 23-fold selective over Kv1.5, 33- to 125-fold selective over other Kv1-family channels, and 500- to 7500-fold selective over Kv2.1, Kv3.1, Kv3.2, Kv4.2, HERG, calcium-activated K + channels, Na + ,Ca 2+ , and Cl - channels. PAP-1 does not exhibit cytotoxic or phototoxic effects, is negative in the Ames test, and affects cytochrome P450-dependent enzymes only at micromolar concentrations. PAP-1 potently inhibits the proliferation of human T EM cells and suppresses delayed type hypersensitivity, a T EM cell-mediated reaction, in rats. PAP-1 and several of its derivatives therefore constitute excellent new tools to further explore Kv1.3 as a target for immunosuppression and could potentially be developed into orally available immunomodulators.