Spyros E. Zographos

Naturally Occurring Pentacyclic Triterpenes as Inhibitors of Glycogen Phosphorylase : Synthesis, Structure-Activity Relationships, and X-ray Crystallographic Studies

Twenty-five naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenes, 15 of which were synthesized in this study, were biologically evaluated as inhibitors of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase a (GPa). From SAR studies, the presence of a sugar moiety in triterpene saponins resulted in a markedly decreased activity ( 7, 18- 20) or no activity ( 21, 22). These saponins, however, might find their value as potential natural prodrugs which are much more water-soluble than their corresponding aglycones. To elucidate the mechanism of GP inhibition, we have determined the crystal structures of the GPb-asiatic acid and GPb-maslinic acid complexes. The X-ray analysis indicates that the inhibitors bind at the allosteric activator site, where the physiological activator AMP binds. Pentacyclic triterpenes represent a promising class of multiple-target antidiabetic agents that exert hypoglycemic effects, at least in part, through GP inhibition.

Potent inhibition of glycogen phosphorylase by a spirohydantoin of glucopyranose: First pyranose analogues of hydantocidin

Abstract The synthesis of two epimeric spirohydantoins of glucopyranose provides the first examples of pyranose analogues of hydantocidin: molecular modelling correctly predicted that one of the epimers would be a potent inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase. This is the first example of specific enzyme inhibition by a spirohydantoin at the anomeric position of a sugar.

New inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase as potential antidiabetic agents.

The protein glycogen phosphorylase has been linked to type 2 diabetes, indicating the importance of this target to human health. Hence, the search for potent and selective inhibitors of this enzyme, which may lead to antihyperglycaemic drugs, has received particular attention. Glycogen phosphorylase is a typical allosteric protein with five different ligand binding sites, thus offering multiple opportunities for modulation of enzyme activity. The present survey is focused on recent new molecules, potential inhibitors of the enzyme. The biological activity can be modified by these molecules through direct binding, allosteric effects or other structural changes. Progress in our understanding of the mechanism of action of these inhibitors has been made by the determination of high-resolution enzyme inhibitor structures (both muscle and liver). The knowledge of the three-dimensional structures of protein-ligand complexes allows analysis of how the ligands interact with the target and has the potential to facilitate structure-based drug design. In this review, the synthesis, structure determination and computational studies of the most recent inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase at the different binding sites are presented and analyzed.

Glucose analogue inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase: from crystallographic analysis to drug prediction using GRID force-field and GOLPE variable selection.

Several inhibitors of the large regulatory enzyme glycogen phosphorylase (GP) have been studied in crystallographic and kinetic experiments. GP catalyses the first step in the phosphorylysis of glycogen to glucose-l-phosphate, which is utilized via glycolysis to provide energy to sustain muscle contraction and in the liver is converted to glucose. alpha-D-Glucose is a weak inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase form b (GPb, K(i) = 1.7 mM) and acts as a physiological regulator of hepatic glycogen metabolism. Glucose binds to phosphorylase at the catalytic site and results in a conformational change that stabilizes the inactive T state of the enzyme, promoting the action of protein phosphatase 1 and stimulating glycogen synthase. It has been suggested that in the liver, glucose analogues with greater affinity for glycogen phosphorylase may result in a more effective regulatory agent. Several N-acetyl glucopyranosylamine derivatives have been synthesized and tested in a series of crystallographic and kinetic binding studies with GPb. The structural results of the bound enzyme-ligand complexes have been analysed together with the resulting affinities in an effort to understand and exploit the molecular interactions that might give rise to a better inhibitor. Comparison of the N-methylacetyl glucopyranosylamine (N-methylamide, K(i) = 0.032 mM) with the analogous beta-methylamide derivative (C-methylamide, K(i) = 0.16 mM) illustrate the importance of forming good hydrogen bonds and obtaining complementarity of van der Waals interactions. These studies also have shown that the binding modes can be unpredictable but may be rationalized with the benefit of structural data and that a buried and mixed polar/non-polar catalytic site poses problems for the systematic addition of functional groups. Together with previous studies of glucose analogue inhibitors of GPb, this work forms the basis of a training set suitable for three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship studies. The molecules in the training set are void of problems and potential errors arising from the alignment and bound conformations of each of the ligands since the coordinates were those determined experimentally from the X-ray crystallographic refined ligand-enzyme complexes. The computational procedure described in this work involves the use of the program GRID to describe the molecular structures and the progam GOLPE to obtain the partial least squares regression model with the highest prediction ability. The GRID/GOLPE procedure performed using 51 glucose analogue inhibitors of GPb has good overall predictivity [standard deviation of error predictions (SDEP) = 0.98 and Q(2) = 0.76] and has shown good agreement with the crystallographic and kinetic results by reliably selecting regions that are known to affect the binding affinity.

Triazole carboxylic acids as anionic sugar mimics? Inhibition of glycogen phosphorylase by a d-glucotriazole carboxylate

Abstract Triazole-carboxylic acids related to d -glucose and d -galactose may be prepared by intramolecular [1,3]-dipolar cycloadditions of azides to unsaturated esters, followed by bromine oxidation of the resulting triazoline. Such materials may provide a series of anionic mimics of carbohydrates.

Kinetics, in silico docking, molecular dynamics, and MM‐GBSA binding studies on prototype indirubins, KT5720, and staurosporine as phosphorylase kinase ATP‐binding site inhibitors: The role of water molecules examined

With an aim toward glycogenolysis control in Type 2 diabetes, we have investigated via kinetic experiments and computation the potential of indirubin (IC50 > 50 μM), indirubin‐3′‐oxime (IC50 = 144 nM), KT5720 (Ki = 18.4 nM) and staurosporine (Ki = 0.37 nM) as phosphorylase kinase (PhKγtrnc) ATP‐binding site inhibitors, with the latter two revealed as potent inhibitors in the low nM range. Because of lack of structural information, we have exploited information from homologous kinase complexes to direct in silico calculations (docking, molecular dynamics, and MM‐GBSA) to predict the binding characteristics of the four ligands. All inhibitors are predicted to bind in the same active site area as the ATP adenine ring, with binding dominated by hinge region hydrogen bonds to Asp104:O and Met106:O (all four ligands) and also Met106:NH (for the indirubins). The PhKγtrnc‐staurosporine complex has the greatest number of receptor‐ligand hydrogen bonds, while for the indirubin‐3′‐oxime and KT5720 complexes there is an important network of interchanging water molecules bridging inhibitor‐enzyme contacts. The MM‐GBSA results revealed the source of staurosporines low nM potency to be favorable electrostatic interactions, while KT5720 has strong van der Waals contributions. KT5720 interacts with the greatest number of protein residues either by direct or 1‐water bridged hydrogen bond interactions, and the potential for more selective PhK inhibition based on a KT5720 analogue has been established. Including receptor flexibility in Schrödinger induced‐fit docking calculations in most cases correctly predicted the binding modes as compared with the molecular dynamics structures; the algorithm was less effective when there were key structural waters bridging receptor‐ligand contacts. Proteins 2011.

Glucose-based spiro-isoxazolines: a new family of potent glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors.

A series of glucopyranosylidene-spiro-isoxazolines was prepared through regio- and stereoselective [3+2]-cycloaddition between the methylene acetylated exo-glucal and aromatic nitrile oxides. The deprotected cycloadducts were evaluated as inhibitors of muscle glycogen phosphorylase b. The carbohydrate-based family of five inhibitors displays K(i) values ranging from 0.63 to 92.5 microM. The X-ray structures of the enzyme-ligand complexes show that the inhibitors bind preferentially at the catalytic site of the enzyme retaining the less active T-state conformation. Docking calculations with GLIDE in extra-precision (XP) mode yielded excellent agreement with experiment, as judged by comparison of the predicted binding modes of the five ligands with the crystallographic conformations and the good correlation between the docking scores and the experimental free binding energies. Use of docking constraints on the well-defined positions of the glucopyranose moiety in the catalytic site and redocking of GLIDE-XP poses using electrostatic potential fit-determined ligand partial charges in quantum polarized ligand docking (QPLD) produced the best results in this regard.

The σ-hole phenomenon of halogen atoms forms the structural basis of the strong inhibitory potency of C5 halogen substituted glucopyranosyl nucleosides towards glycogen phosphorylase b.

C5 halogen substituted glucopyranosyl nucleosides (1‐(β‐D‐glucopyranosyl)‐5‐X‐uracil; X=Cl, Br, I) have been discovered as some of the most potent active site inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase (GP), with respective Ki values of 1.02, 3.27, and 1.94 μM. The ability of the halogen atom to form intermolecular electrostatic interactions through the σ‐hole phenomenon rather than through steric effects alone forms the structural basis of their improved inhibitory potential relative to the unsubstituted 1‐(β‐D‐glucopyranosyl)uracil (Ki=12.39 μM), as revealed by X‐ray crystallography and modeling calculations exploiting quantum mechanics methods. Good agreement was obtained between kinetics results and relative binding affinities calculated by QM/MM‐PBSA methodology for various substitutions at C5. Ex vivo experiments demonstrated that the most potent derivative (X=Cl) toward purified GP has no cytotoxicity and moderate inhibitory potency at the cellular level. In accordance, ADMET property predictions were performed, and suggest decreased polar surface areas as a potential means of improving activity in the cell.

Specific inhibition of glycogen phosphorylase by a spirodiketopiperazine at the anomeric position of glucopyranose

Abstract A key intermediate bicyclic lactone 6 allows control of the anomeric configuration of a spirodiketopiperazine of glucopyranose 5 which is a specific inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase, showing no inhibition of α- and β-glucosidases, α- and β-galactosidases, β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, pectinase, xylanase or cellulase.

Crystallographic and computational studies on 4-phenyl-N-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-1-acetamide, an inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase: Comparison with α-D-glucose, N-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosylamine and N-benzoyl-N′-β-D-glucopyranosyl urea binding

4‐Phenyl‐N‐(β‐D‐glucopyranosyl)‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazole‐1‐acetamide (glucosyltriazolylacetamide) has been studied in kinetic and crystallographic experiments with glycogen phosphorylase b (GPb), in an effort to utilize its potential as a lead for the design of potent antihyperglycaemic agents. Docking and molecular dynamics (MD) calculations have been used to monitor more closely the binding modes in operation and compare the results with experiment. Kinetic experiments in the direction of glycogen synthesis showed that glucosyltriazolylacetamide is a better inhibitor (Ki = 0.18 mM) than the parent compound α‐D‐glucose (Ki = 1.7 mM) or β‐D‐glucose (Ki = 7.4 mM) but less potent inhibitor than the lead compound N‐acetyl‐β‐D‐glucopyranosylamine (Ki = 32 μM). To elucidate the molecular basis underlying the inhibition of the newly identified compound, we determined the structure of GPb in complex with glucosyltriazolylacetamide at 100 K to 1.88 Å resolution, and the structure of the compound in the free form. Glucosyltriazolylacetamide is accommodated in the catalytic site of the enzyme and the glucopyranose interacts in a manner similar to that observed in the GPb‐α‐D‐glucose complex, while the substituent group in the β‐position of the C1 atom makes additional hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions to the protein. A bifurcated donor type hydrogen bonding involving O3H, N3, and N4 is seen as an important structural motif strengthening the binding of glucosyltriazolylacetamide with GP which necessitated change in the torsion about C8N2 bond by about 62° going from its free to the complex form with GPb. On binding to GP, glucosyltriazolylacetamide induces significant conformational changes in the vicinity of this site. Specifically, the 280s loop (residues 282–288) shifts 0.7 to 3.1 Å (CA atoms) to accommodate glucosyltriazolylacetamide. These conformational changes do not lead to increased contacts between the inhibitor and the protein that would improve ligand binding compared with the lead compound. In the molecular modeling calculations, the GOLD docking runs with and without the crystallographic ordered cavity waters using the GoldScore scoring function, and without cavity waters using the ChemScore scoring function successfully reproduced the crystallographic binding conformation. However, the GLIDE docking calculations both with (GLIDE XP) and without (GLIDE SP and XP) the cavity water molecules were, impressively, further able to accurately reproduce the finer details of the GPb‐glucosyltriazolylacetamide complex structure. The importance of cavity waters in flexible receptor MD calculations compared to “rigid” (docking) is analyzed and highlighted, while in the MD itself very little conformational flexibility of the glucosyltriazolylacetamide ligand was observed over the time scale of the simulations. Proteins 2008.