0000000000067442
AUTHOR
Louis Maes
Discovery of benzimidazole-based Leishmania mexicana cysteine protease CPB2.8ΔCTE inhibitors as potential therapeutics for leishmaniasis
Abstract: Chemotherapy is currently the only effective approach to treat all forms of leishmaniasis. However, its effectiveness is severely limited due to high toxicity, long treatment length, drug resistance, or inadequate mode of administration. As a consequence, there is a need to identify new molecular scaffolds and targets as potential therapeutics for the treatment of this disease. We report a small series of 1,2‐substituted‐1H‐benzo[d]imidazole derivatives (9ad) showing affinity in the submicromolar range (Ki = 0.150.69 μM) toward Leishmania mexicanaCPB2.8ΔCTE, one of the more promising targets for antileishmanial drug design. The compounds confirmed activity in vitro against intrace…
Ensemble-based ADME-Tox profiling and virtual screening for the discovery of new inhibitors of the Leishmania mexicana cysteine protease CPB2.8ΔCTE
Abstract: In an effort to identify novel molecular warheads able to inhibit Leishmania mexicana cysteine protease CPB2.8CTE, fused benzo[b]thiophenes and ,'-triketones emerged as covalent inhibitors binding the active site cysteine residue. Enzymatic screening showed a moderate-to-excellent activity (12%-90% inhibition of the target enzyme at 20m). The most promising compounds were selected for further profiling including in vitro cell-based assays and docking studies. Computational data suggest that benzo[b]thiophenes act immediately as non-covalent inhibitors and then as irreversible covalent inhibitors, whereas a reversible covalent mechanism emerged for the 1,3,3'-triketones with a Y-to…