1,5-Disubstituted 1,2,3-Triazoles as Amide Bond Isosteres Yield Novel Tumor-Targeting Minigastrin Analogs.

[Image: see text] 1,5-Disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles (1,5-Tz) are considered bioisosteres of cis-amide bonds. However, their use for enhancing the pharmacological properties of peptides or proteins is not yet well established. Aiming to illustrate their utility, we chose the peptide conjugate [Nle(15)]MG11 (DOTA-dGlu-Ala-Tyr-Gly-Trp-Nle-Asp-Phe-NH(2)) as a model compound since it is known that the cholecystokinin-2 receptor (CCK2R) is able to accommodate turn conformations. Analogs of [Nle(15)]MG11 incorporating 1,5-Tz in the backbone were synthesized and radiolabeled with lutetium-177, and their pharmacological properties (cell internalization, receptor binding affinity and specificity, pla…

Cover Feature: Single Peptide Backbone Surrogate Mutations to Regulate Angiotensin GPCR Subtype Selectivity (Chem. Eur. J. 47/2020)

Single Peptide Backbone Surrogate Mutations to Regulate Angiotensin GPCR Subtype Selectivity

Mutating the side-chains of amino acids in a peptide ligand, with unnatural amino acids, aiming to mitigate its short half-life is an established approach. However, it is hypothesized that mutating specific backbone peptide bonds with bioisosters can be exploited not only to enhance the proteolytic stability of parent peptides, but also to tune its receptor subtype selectivity. Towards this end, four [Y]6-Angiotensin II analogues are synthesized where amide bonds have been replaced by 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole isosteres in four different backbone locations. All the analogues possessed enhanced stability in human plasma in comparison with the parent peptide, whereas only two of them a…