Roger John Aitchison Walsh

Selective endothelin A receptor ligands. 1. Discovery and structure-activity of 2,4-disubstituted benzoic acid derivatives

Summary This paper describes the discovery of a new non-peptide endothelin A (ETA) selective ligand, 2,4-dibenzyloxybenzoic acid 3, which inhibits the binding of [125I]ET-1 to ETA receptors with an IC50 of 9 μM (ET-1 = endothelin-1). Optimisation of 3 resulted in compound 52 which had an IC50 of 1 μM. One of the analogues of 3, compound 15, was examined in a functional assay and shown to antagonise ET-1-induced contraction of rat aorta. The identification of 3 was made through the application of ChemDBS-3D searching of our corporate database. The 3D query, using an aromatic ring to a carboxylic acid group separated by 10.2 ± 1.1 A, was derived from an examination of common pharmacophoric distances found in the low energy conformations of two known ETA antagonists, the cyclic pentapeptide BQ 123 1 and myriceron caffeoyl ester 2.

New non peptidic C5a receptor antagonists

Abstract A series of phenylguanidines which bind to the C5a receptor has been developed. The lead compound 1 (IC50=30μM), discovered through random screening, has been modified to provide 32 (RPR121154) with submicromolar activity. This compound was shown to further elicit functional antagonism in a human neutrophil C5a stimulated respiratory burst assay.

Selective endothelin A receptor antagonists. 2. Discovery and structure-activity relationships of 5-ketopentanoic acid derivatives

Summary The second in this series of papers describes the further progress made in the discovery of a potent and selective endothelin ETA receptor antagonist for the potential treatment of diseases in which endothelin has been shown to have a pathophysiological role including hypertension, ischaemic diseases and atherosclerosis. We describe herein the synthesis and structure-activity relationships of a novel series of 5-ketopentanoic acid derivatives exemplified by the lead compound 1 (IC50 0.72 μM, rat aortic ETAR). Optimisation of the in vitro binding of 1 led to the identification of a more potent compound (37) which exhibited an IC50 300-fold selectivity for the ETA receptor over the ETB receptor. This compound demonstrated functional antagonism of endothelin-induced vasoconstriction in vitro.