Jean-François Fournier

Rational Drug Design of Topically Administered Caspase 1 Inhibitors for the Treatment of Inflammatory Acne

The use of an interleukin β antibody is currently being investigated in the clinic for the treatment of acne, a dermatological disorder affecting 650M persons globally. Inhibiting the protease responsible for the cleavage of inactive pro-IL1β into active IL-1β, caspase-1, could be an alternative small molecule approach. This report describes the discovery of uracil 20, a potent (38 nM in THP1 cells assay) caspase-1 inhibitor for the topical treatment of inflammatory acne. The uracil series was designed according to a published caspase-1 pharmacophore model involving a reactive warhead in P1 for covalent reversible inhibition and an aryl moiety in P4 for selectivity against the apoptotic caspases. Reversibility was assessed in an enzymatic dilution assay or by using different substrate concentrations. In addition to classical structure-activity-relationship exploration, topical administration challenges such as phototoxicity, organic and aqueous solubility, chemical stability in solution, and skin metabolic stability are discussed and successfully resolved.

Intrinsic Property Forecast Index (iPFI) as a Rule of Thumb for Medicinal Chemists to Remove a Phototoxicity Liability

Phototoxicity occurs when UV irradiation causes otherwise benign compounds to become irritant, sensitizers, or even genotoxic. This toxicity is particularly a concern after topical application and in dermatological programs where skin irritation can be incompatible with the desired therapeutic outcome. This brief article establishes that the intrinsic property forecast index (iPFI) can be used to evaluate the probability of a compound being phototoxic and gives medicinal chemists a practical tool to handle this liability.

Squaramides as novel class I and IIB histone deacetylase inhibitors for topical treatment of cutaneous t-cell lymphoma.

A series of squaramide-based hydroxamic acids were designed, synthesized and evaluated against human HDAC enzyme. Squaramides were found to be potent in the Hut78 cell line, but initially suffered from low solubility. Leads with improved solubility and metabolic profiles were shown to be class I, IIB and IV selective.