1. Academic Validation
  2. Discovery of a new 1-(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indole derivative targeting the EphA2 receptor with antiproliferative activity on U251 glioblastoma cell line

Discovery of a new 1-(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indole derivative targeting the EphA2 receptor with antiproliferative activity on U251 glioblastoma cell line

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2024 Jul 15:276:116681. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116681.
Lorenzo Guidetti 1 Riccardo Castelli 1 Alfonso Zappia 1 Francesca Romana Ferrari 1 Carmine Giorgio 1 Elisabetta Barocelli 1 Luca Pagliaro 2 Federica Vento 3 Giovanni Roti 2 Laura Scalvini 1 Federica Vacondio 1 Silvia Rivara 1 Marco Mor 4 Alessio Lodola 5 Massimiliano Tognolini 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti e del Farmaco, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
  • 2 Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy; Ematologia e CTMO, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria di Parma, Parma, Italy; Translational Hematology and Chemogenomics (THEC), Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
  • 3 Translational Hematology and Chemogenomics (THEC), Università di Parma, Parma, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
  • 4 Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti e del Farmaco, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy; Microbiome Research Hub, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
  • 5 Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti e del Farmaco, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: alessio.lodola@unipr.it.
  • 6 Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti e del Farmaco, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: massimiliano.tognolini@unipr.it.
Abstract

In our continuing effort devoted at developing agents targeting the EphA2 receptor by means of protein-protein interaction (PPI) inhibitors, we report here the design and synthesis of a new class of l-β-homotryptophan conjugates of 3-β-hydroxy-Δ5-cholenic acid bearing a set of arylsulfonyl substituents at the indole nitrogen atom. An extensive structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis indicates that the presence of a bulky lipophilic moiety at the indole nitrogen is fundamental for improving potency on the EphA2 receptor, while abrogating activity on the EphB1-EphB3 receptor subtypes. A rational exploration, guided by the combined application of an experimental design on σp and π physicochemical descriptors and docking simulations, led to the discovery of UniPR1454, a 1-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)sulfonyl derivative acting as potent and competitive EphA2 antagonist able to inhibit Ephrin-A1 dependent signals and to reduce proliferation of glioblastoma (U251) cell line at micromolar concentration.

Keywords

Docking; EphA2; Glioblastoma; Protein-protein interaction; SAR.

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