0000000000549692

AUTHOR

Maurizio Aquino

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of a novel inhibitor of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 expression

Abstract In a previous study, we reported a new γ-hydroxybutenolide derivative, 4-benzo[ b ]thiophen-2-yl-3-bromo-5-hydroxy-5 H -furan-2-one (BTH), as inhibitor of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) expression in lypopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated RAW 264.7 and TPH-1 cells, without affecting cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). In this study, we evaluated the in vivo effect of BTH on some acute and chronic inflammatory animal models in relation to its inhibitory profile on mPGES-1 expression. In the zymosan-induced mouse air pouch model, BTH produced a dose-dependent inhibition of prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) production and mPGES-1 protein expression in pouch exudates without any effect on…

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Toward the Discovery of New Agents Able to Inhibit the Expression of Microsomal Prostaglandin E Synthase-1 Enzyme as Promising Tools in Drug Development

In our recent studies, we focused our attention on the synthesis of several γ-hydroxybutenolides designed on the basis of petrosaspongiolide M 1 (PM) structure that has been recognized to potently inhibit the inflammatory process through the selective PLA2 enzyme inhibition. By means of a combination of computational methods and efficient synthetic strategies, we generated small collections of PM modified analogs to identify new potent PLA2 inhibitors, suitable for clinical development. In the course of the biological screening of our compounds, we discovered a potent and selective inhibitor of mPGES-1 expression, the benzothiophene γ-hydroxybutenolide 2, which so far represents the only pr…

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Development of a second generation of inhibitors of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase 1 expression bearing the γ-hydroxybutenolide scaffold

Petrosaspongiolide M (PM), a marine sesterterpene metabolite bearing the gamma-hydroxybutenolide scaffold and displaying a potent inhibitory activity toward PLA(2) enzyme, was selected by us as an attractive target in order to explore its mechanism of action at molecular level. In the course of our investigations we decided to synthetically modify the parent compound to clarify the structural determinants responsible for the activity; in fact, very recently, our research group reported the synthesis and the pharmacological properties of a first collection of PM analogues generated by Ludi approach. The synthesized compounds showed a poor or moderate activity toward PLA(2) enzymes, neverthel…

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