化学学报 ›› 2014, Vol. 72 ›› Issue (8): 906-913.DOI: 10.6023/A14060431 上一篇    下一篇

研究通讯

2-芳基-3-羰基喹诺酮:新型HCV NS5B多聚酶抑制剂的设计、合成和活性评估

王沈丰a, 林建平a, 何佩岚b, 左建平b, 龙亚秋a   

  1. a 中国科学院受体结构与功能重点实验室 中国科学院上海药物研究所 上海 201203;
    b 新药研究国家重点实验室 中国科学院上海药物研究所 上海 201203
  • 投稿日期:2014-06-03 发布日期:2014-06-17
  • 通讯作者: 左建平, 龙亚秋 E-mail:yqlong@mail.shcnc.ac.cn;jpzuo@mail.shcnc.ac.cn
  • 基金资助:
    项目受国家自然科学基金(Nos. 81325020,81361120410)资助

2-Aryl-3-carbonylquinolones:Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel HCV NS5B Polymerase Inhibitors

Wang Shenfenga, Lin Jianpinga, He Peilanb, Zuo Jianpingb, Long Yaqiua   

  1. a CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203;
    b State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203
  • Received:2014-06-03 Published:2014-06-17
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81325020, 81361120410).

丙型肝炎病毒(hepatitis C virus,简称HCV)编码的多聚酶NS5B是丙肝病毒RNA复制的必需酶,已成为抗丙肝药物设计的有效靶标. 基于HCV NS5B多聚酶的活性位点需要结合二价金属离子作为催化辅因子的机理,含有金属螯合模段的喹诺酮酸骨架被合理用来发现新结构的非核苷HCV抑制剂. 根据喹诺酮酸抑制剂与NS5B多聚酶的结合模式,我们第一次设计在喹诺酮酸的2-位引入疏水基团,同时调节N-1,C-3和C-7位的取代基结构,运用我们发展的一锅煮新方法合成了结构多样的喹诺酮酸衍生物,并运用HCV体外感染实验系统进行抗病毒活性的评估,我们开展了系统的构效关系研究,发现了新结构类型的非核苷HCV抑制剂. 这些2-芳基-1-环丙基/烯丙基喹诺酮酸衍生物在低浓度(μmol·L-1)下能有效抑制HCV病毒在宿主细胞Huh7.5.1的复制,并具有2~6倍的安全窗口,有进一步优化成抗HCV候选药物的潜力.

关键词: HCV NS5B聚合酶, 2-取代喹诺酮酸, 非核苷抑制剂, 直接作用抗病毒药物, 变构位点

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health problem that impacts approximately 180 million individuals. Until recently the current therapy for treating HCV infection has been regular injections of pegalated α-interferon (PEG-IFN) with daily oral administration of ribavirin (RBV). However, PEG-IFN/RBV treatment is only effective for only 50% of genotype 1 patients and associated with significant adverse effects including fatigue, hemolytic anemia, depression, and flulike symptoms. Therefore, the search for direct acting antivirals (DAAs) that are safe and effective has become an urgent endeavor. HCV NS5B polymerase, an essential enzyme for the HCV RNA replication, has emerged as an attractive and validated target for the direct HCV therapeutic intervention. Since NS5B polymerase needs a divalent metal ion as a cofactore in the active site for its catalytic function, the metal chelation motif-containing quinolone-3-carboxylic scaffold has been explored as a new class of non-nucleoside NS5B inhibitors. Two groups have recently reported a preliminary structure-activity relationship (SAR) study on the 4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acids as HCV NS5B inhibitors, just focused on the N-1, C-3 and C-6/7 substitutions. Based on the binding mode revealed by the cocrystal structure of the quinolone inhibitor bound to the NS5B enzyme, for the first time we proposed to introduce a hydrophobic group at C-2 position on the quinolone ring to improve the anti-HCV potency. By making use of the new method to synthesize 2-substituted quinolone-3-carboxylic acid derivatives recently developed by our group, we conducted a comprehensive SAR study on the 2-aryl-3-carbonylquinolone-based non-nucleoside inhibitors of HCV NS5B polymerase. Starting from the readily accessible amides and 3-oxo-3-arylpropanoates, structurally diverse 2-substituted quinolone-3-carboxylic acid derivatives were efficiently furnished by a tandem addition-elimination reaction/nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction via an imine-enamine intermediate. The anti-HCV potency and cytotoxicity were evaluated in the HCV-infected host cells Huh7.5.1 assay system. To our delight, the incorporation of a hydrophobic aryl group into 2-position of the quinolone core really enhanced the inhibitory activity against the HCV replication in the host cells with a 2-fold selectivity over the cytotoxicity. Meanwhile, a small size hydrophobic group at N-1 position was favored for the 2-arylquinolone-derived NS5B inhibitors. Further structural variation was investigated on the C-3 and C-7 substituents, with an aromatic ester and an N-methyl piperazine being an optimal moiety, respectively. The global structural optimization at positions N-1, C-2, C-3 and C-7 resulted in the discovery of novel 2-aryl substituted quinolone inhibitors with low micromolar EC50 values to inhibit the replication of the HCV RNA in the host cell Huh7.5.1 and therapeutic indices of 2~6, providing a new promising lead for the further development into anti-HCV drug candidates.

Key words: HCV NS5B polymerase, 2-substituted quinolone-3-carboxylic acid, non-nucleoside inhibitor, direct acting antiviral, allosteric site