Cristina Tintori

Investigations on the 4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid motif. 1. Synthesis and structure-activity relationship of a class of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase inhibitors.

A set of 4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acids bearing different substituents on the condensed benzene ring was designed and synthesized as potential HIV-1 integrase inhibitors structurally related to elvitegravir. Some of the new compounds proved to be able to inhibit the strand transfer step of the virus integration process in the micromolar range. Docking studies and quantum mechanics calculations were used to rationalize these data.

Synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies of 4-amino substituted 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines.

The synthesis of new 4-amino substituted pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines along with their activity in cell-free enzymatic assays on Src and Abl tyrosine kinases is reported. Some compounds emerged as good dual inhibitors of the two enzymes, showed antiproliferative effects on two Bcr-Abl positive leukemia cell lines K-562 and KU-812, and induced apoptosis, as demonstrated by the PARP assay. Docking studies have been also performed to analyze the binding mode of compounds under study and to identify the structural determinants of their interaction with both Src and Abl.

Antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities of new pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivative Src kinase inhibitors in human osteosarcoma cells

Osteosarcoma is the most frequent primitive malignant tumor of the skeletal system, char acterized by an extremely aggressive clinical course that still lacks an effective treatment. Src kinase seems to be involved in the osteosarcoma malignant phenotype. We show that the treatment of human osteosarcoma cell lines with a new pyrazolo[3,4‐d]pyrimidine derivative Src inhibitor, namely SI‐83, impaired cell viability, with a half‐maximal inhibitory concentration of 12 μ.M in nonstarved cells and a kinetic different from that known for the Src inhibitor PP2. Analysis by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated nick end labeling, Hoechst, and flow cytometric assay showed that SI‐83 induced apoptosis in SaOS‐2 cells. Moreover, SI‐83, by inhibiting Src phosphorylation, decreased in vivo osteosarcoma tumor mass in a mouse model. Finally, SI‐83 showed selectivity for osteosarcoma, since it had a far lower effect in primary human osteoblasts. These results show that human osteosarcoma had Src‐ dependent proliferation and that modulation of Src activity may be a therapeutic target of this new com pound with low toxicity for nonneoplastic cells—Spreafico, A., Schenone, S., Serchi, T., Orlandini, M., Angelucci, A., Magrini, D., Bernardini, G., Collodel, G., Di Stefano, A., Tintori, C., Bologna, M., Manetti, F., Botta, M., Santucci, A. Antiproliferative and proapo‐ ptotic activities of new pyrazolo[3,4‐d]pyrimidine deriv ative Src kinase inhibitors in human osteosarcoma cells. FASEBJ. 22, 1560–1571 (2008)

Design, synthesis, biological activity, and ADME properties of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines active in hypoxic human leukemia cells: a lead optimization study.

A family of dual Src/Abl inhibitors characterized by a substituted pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine scaffold was previously reported by us and proved to be active against several tumor cell lines. Among these compounds, a promising antileukemia lead (1) has been recently identified, but, unfortunately, it suffers from substandard pharmaceutical properties. Accordingly, an approach for the optimization of the lead 1 is described in the present work. A series of more soluble pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives were rationally designed and proved to maintain the dual Src/Abl activity of the lead. Selected compounds showed an interesting activity profile against three different leukemic cells also in hypoxic conditions, which are usually characterized by imatinib-resistance. Finally, in vitro ADME properties (PAMPA permeation, water solubility, microsomal stability) for the most promising inhibitors were also evaluated, thus allowing the identification of a few optimized analogues of lead 1 as promising antileukemia agents.

Targets Looking for Drugs: A Multistep Computational Protocol for the Development of Structure-Based Pharmacophores and Their Applications for Hit Discovery

Pharmacophoresthree-dimensional (3D) arrangements of essential features enabling a molecule to exert a particular biological effectconstitute a very useful tool in drug design both in hit discovery and hit-to-lead optimization process. Two basic approaches for pharmacophoric model generation can be used by chemists, depending on the availability or not of the target 3D structure. In view of the rapidly growing number of protein structures that are now available, receptor-based pharmacophore generation methods are becoming more and more used. Since most of them require the knowledge of the 3D structure of the ligand-target complex, they cannot be applied when no compounds targeting the binding site of interest are known. Here, a GRID-based procedure for the generation of receptor-based pharmacophores starting from the knowledge of the sole protein structure is described and successfully applied to address three different tasks in the field of medicinal chemistry.

Development of an AlphaScreen-based HIV-1 integrase dimerization assay for discovery of novel allosteric inhibitors.

In recent years, HIV-1 integrase (IN) has become an established target in the field of antiretroviral drug discovery. However, its sole clinically approved inhibitor, the integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) raltegravir, has a surprisingly low genetic barrier for resistance. Furthermore, the only two other integrase inhibitors currently in advanced clinical trials, elvitegravir and dolutegravir, share its mechanism of action and certain resistance pathways. To maintain a range of treatment options, drug discovery efforts are now turning toward allosteric IN inhibitors, which should be devoid of cross-resistance with INSTIs. As IN requires a precise and dynamic equilibrium between several oligomeric species for its activities, the modulation of this equilibrium presents an interesting allosteric target. We report on the development, characterization, and validation of an AlphaScreen-based assay for high-throughput screening for modulators of HIV-1 IN dimerization. Compounds identified as hits in this assay proved to act as allosteric IN inhibitors. Additionally, the assay offers a flexible platform to study IN dimerization.

Docking, 3D-QSAR studies and in silico ADME prediction on c-Src tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Docking simulations and three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) analysis were performed on a wide set of c-Src inhibitors. The study was conducted using a structure-based alignment and by applying the GRID/GOLPE approach. The present 3D-QSAR investigation proved to be of good statistical value, displaying r(2), q(2) and cross-validation SDEP values of 0.94, 0.84 and 0.42, respectively. Moreover, such a model also proved to be capable of predicting the activities of an external test set of compounds. The availability of the 3D structure of the target made possible the interpretation of steric and electrostatic maps within the binding site environment and provided useful insight into the structural requirements for inhibitory activity against c-Src. Two regions whose occupation by hydrophobic portions of ligands would favourably affect the activity were clearly identified. Moreover, hydrogen bond interactions involving residues Met343, Asp406 and Ser347 emerged as playing a key role in determining the affinity of the active inhibitors toward c-Src. Furthermore, the inhibitors bearing a basic nitrogen provided enhanced potency through protonation and salt bridge formation with Asp350. A preliminary pharmacokinetic profile of the molecules under analysis was also drawn on the basis of Volsurf predictions.

Identification of potent c-Src inhibitors strongly affecting the proliferation of human neuroblastoma cells

Neuroblastoma (NB) represents the most common extracranial paediatric solid tumor for which no specific FDA-approved treatment is currently available. The tyrosine kinase c-Src has been reported to play an important role in the differentiation, cell-adhesion and survival of NB cells. Starting from dual Src/Abl inhibitors previously found active in NB cell lines (1-3), small modification of the original structures almost abolished the Abl activity with a contemporary improvement of affinity and specificity for c-Src. Among the synthesized compounds, the most potent c-Src inhibitor (10a) showed a very interesting antiproliferative activity in SH-SY5Y cells with an IC(50) of 80 nM and a favourable ADME profile. A 3D SAR analysis was also attempted and may guide the design of more potent c-Src inhibitors as potential agents for NB treatment.

Exploration of novel thiobarbituric acid-, rhodanine- and thiohydantoin-based HIV-1 integrase inhibitors.

A novel compound inhibiting HIV-1 integrase has been identified by means of virtual screening techniques. A small family of structurally related molecules has been synthesized and biologically evaluated with some of the compounds possessing micromolar activity both in enzymatic and cellular assays.

'Click' synthesis of a triazole-based inhibitor of Met functions in cancer cells.

The use of Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition permitted the synthesis of a new compound that is able to inhibit the HGF-induced scattering of MDCK (epithelial cells) and in vitro tumorigenesis of H1437 (non-small-cell lung cancer) and GTL-16 (human gastric carcinoma). In agreement with biochemical and biological results, docking studies within the ATP binding site of Met suggested for the new synthesized compound a binding mode similar to that of the active compound Triflorcas previously reported.