Mariana Boiani

Imidazole and Benzimidazole Derivatives as Chemotherapeutic Agents

Imidazole and benzimidazole systems are presented in a large number of common therapeutics agents. They were widely used in organic and medicinal chemistry, but recently the development of N-oxide derivatives got an improvement from the point of view of its chemical and biological activity. Though we will review recent developments in chemical and biological profiles (as antitumoral, antiparasitic, antiviral and antimicrobial agents) of these heterocycle systems and the corresponding N-oxides.

Mode of action of Nifurtimox and N-oxide-containing heterocycles against Trypanosoma cruzi: Is oxidative stress involved?

Chagas disease is caused by the trypanosomatid parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and threatens millions of lives in South America. As other neglected diseases there is almost no research and development effort by the pharmaceutical industry and the treatment relies on two drugs, Nifurtimox and Benznidazole, discovered empirically more than three decades ago. Nifurtimox, a nitrofurane derivative, is believed to exert its biological activity through the bioreduction of the nitro-group to a nitro-anion radical which undergoes redox-cycling with molecular oxygen. This hypothesis is generally accepted, although arguments against it have been presented. In the present work we studied the ability of Nifurtimox and five N-oxide-containing heterocycles to induce oxidative stress in T. cruzi. N-Oxide-containing heterocycles represent a promising group of new trypanosomicidal agents and their mode of action is not completely elucidated. The results here obtained argue against the oxidative stress hypothesis almost for all the studied compounds, including Nifurtimox. A significant reduction in the level of parasitic low-molecular-weight thiols was observed after Nifurtimox treatment; however, it was not linked to the production of reactive oxidant species. Besides, redox-cycling is only observed at high Nifurtimox concentrations (>400microM), two orders of magnitude higher than the concentration required for anti-proliferative activity (5microM). Our results indicate that an increase in oxidative stress is not the main mechanism of action of Nifurtimox. Among the studied N-oxide-containing heterocycles, benzofuroxan derivatives strongly inhibited parasite dehydrogenase activity and affected mitochondrial membrane potential. The indazole derivative raised intracellular oxidants production, but it was the least effective as anti-T. cruzi.

1,2,5-Oxadiazole N-oxide derivatives as potential anti-cancer agents: synthesis and biological evaluation. Part IV

Several new 1,2,5-oxadiazole N-oxide derivatives and some deoxygenated analogues were synthesized to be tested as potential selective hypoxic cell cytotoxins. Compounds prepared were designed in order to gain insight into the mechanism of action of this kind of cytotoxin. Compounds were tested in oxia and hypoxia and they proved to be non-selective. 3-Cyano-N(2)-oxide-4-phenyl-1,2,5-oxadiazole showed the best cytotoxic activity in oxia. The cytotoxicity observed for these derivatives could be explained in terms of the electronic characteristics of the 1,2,5-oxadiazole substituents. Electrochemical and ESR studies were performed on the more cytotoxic derivative.

New trypanocidal hybrid compounds from the association of hydrazone moieties and benzofuroxan heterocycle

Hybrid compounds containing hydrazones and benzofuroxan pharmacophores were designed as potential Trypanosoma cruzi-enzyme inhibitors. The majority of the designed compounds was successfully synthesized and biologically evaluated displaying remarkable in vitro activity against different strains of T. cruzi. Unspecific cytotoxicity was evaluated using mouse macrophages, displaying isothiosemicarbazone 10 and thiosemicarbazone 12 selectivity indexes (macrophage/parasite) of 21 and 27, respectively. In addition, the mode of anti-trypanosomal action of the derivatives was investigated. Some of these derivatives were moderate inhibitors of cysteinyl active site enzymes of T. cruzi, cruzipain and trypanothione reductase. ESR experiments using T. cruzi microsomal fraction suggest that the main mechanism of action of the trypanocidal effects is the production of oxidative stress into the parasite.

Second generation of 2H-benzimidazole 1,3-dioxide derivatives as anti-trypanosomatid agents: Synthesis, biological evaluation, and mode of action studies

Exploring the influence of different substitution patterns of 2H-benzimidazole 1,3-dioxide derivatives (BzNO) we prepared fifteen new derivatives. Initially the BzNO were tested against Trypanosoma cruzi Tulahuen 2 strain epimastigote form rendering very potent anti-T. cruzi agents. Moreover, the BzNO were able to inhibit the growth of virulent and resistant to Benznidazole strains (CL Brener clone, Colombiana, and Y strains) and to Leishmania braziliensis. Interestingly, BzNO exhibited very high selectivity index and particularly the spiro-BzNO 13 provokes an important diminution of amastigotes in Vero cells. Besides, it was found a diminution of acetate and glycine as excreted metabolites but without increase of parasite glucose uptake indicating that the glycosome is probably not involucrate in the 2H-benzimidazole 1,3-dioxides mechanism of action.

Identification of Thioredoxin Glutathione Reductase Inhibitors That Kill Cestode and Trematode Parasites

Parasitic flatworms are responsible for serious infectious diseases that affect humans as well as livestock animals in vast regions of the world. Yet, the drug armamentarium available for treatment of these infections is limited: praziquantel is the single drug currently available for 200 million people infected with Schistosoma spp. and there is justified concern about emergence of drug resistance. Thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) is an essential core enzyme for redox homeostasis in flatworm parasites. In this work, we searched for flatworm TGR inhibitors testing compounds belonging to various families known to inhibit thioredoxin reductase or TGR and also additional electrophilic compounds. Several furoxans and one thiadiazole potently inhibited TGRs from both classes of parasitic flatworms: cestoda (tapeworms) and trematoda (flukes), while several benzofuroxans and a quinoxaline moderately inhibited TGRs. Remarkably, five active compounds from diverse families possessed a phenylsulfonyl group, strongly suggesting that this moiety is a new pharmacophore. The most active inhibitors were further characterized and displayed slow and nearly irreversible binding to TGR. These compounds efficiently killed Echinococcus granulosus larval worms and Fasciola hepatica newly excysted juveniles in vitro at a 20 µM concentration. Our results support the concept that the redox metabolism of flatworm parasites is precarious and particularly susceptible to destabilization, show that furoxans can be used to target both flukes and tapeworms, and identified phenylsulfonyl as a new drug-hit moiety for both classes of flatworm parasites.

Modeling anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activity of N-oxide containing heterocycles.

In the present study a systematic approach was used to model the anti-T. cruzi activity of a series of N-oxide containing heterocycles belonging to four chemical families with a wide structural diversity. The proposed mode of action implies the reduction of the N-oxide moiety; however, the biochemical mechanism underlying the anti-T. cruzi activity is still unkown. For structural representation two types of descriptors were analyzed: quantum chemical (AM1) global descriptors and properties coded by radial distribution function (RDF). Both types of descriptors point to the relevance of electronic properties. The local-RDF (LRDF) identified an electrophilic center at 4.1-4.9 A from the oxygen atom of the N-oxide moiety, although other properties are required to explain the biological activity. While the mode of action of N-oxide containing heterocycles is still unknown, the results obtained here strengthen the importance of the electrophilic character of the molecule and the possible participation of the heterocycle in a reduction process. The ability of these descriptors to distinguish among activity classes was assessed using Kohonen neural networks, and the best clustering descriptors were later used for model building. Different learning algorithms were used for model development, and stratified 10-fold cross-validation was used to evaluate the performance of each classifier. The best results were obtained using k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) and decision tree (J48) methods combined with global descriptors. Since tree-based methods are easily translated into classification rules, the J48 model is a useful tool in the de novo construction of new N-oxide containing heterocycle lead structures.

Development of a HPLC method for the determination of antichagasic phenylethenylbenzofuroxans and its major synthetic secondary products in the chemical production processes.

A simple isocratic reverse-phase HPLC method for the determination of six antichagasic phenylethenylbenzofuroxans and its major synthetic secondary products, the corresponding geometric isomers and the benzofurazans, was developed and validated for use in the analysis of pre-clinical studies. Separation was achieved on a reverse-phase Supelco LC-18 column using either methanol-acetonitrile-water or acetonitrile-water, in different proportions, as mobile phase. The compounds were eluted isocratically at a flow rate of either 0.8 or 1.0 mLmin(-1). The compounds were analyzed with UV detection at 210 and 300 nm. The validation characteristics included linearity, accuracy, precision, specificity, limit of detection and quantification and robustness. Validation acceptance criteria were met in all cases. This method was used successfully for the quality assessment of the drugs production in the scale-up procedures.

Chemical Modifications of 1,2,5-Oxadiazole N-Oxide System Searching for Cytotoxic Selective Hypoxic Drugs

New analogues of 3-Formyl-4-phenyl-1,2,5-oxadiazole N-oxide (1) are prepared and evaluated as cytotoxic selective agents in hypoxia.