Synthesis and Evaluation of Benzylamine Inhibitors of Neuropathogenic Naegleria fowleri "Brain-Eating" Amoeba.
Julia M PomeroyMuhammad M KhalifaJillian E MilanesCaroline M PalmentieroJames C MorrisJennifer E GoldenPublished in: ACS medicinal chemistry letters (2023)
Current therapy for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a highly lethal brain infection in humans caused by Naegleria fowleri amoeba, is restricted to repurposed drugs with limited efficacy and success. Discovery of an antiamoebic benzylamine scaffold 2 precipitated a medicinal chemistry effort to improve potency, cytotoxicity profile, and drug-like properties. Thirty-four compounds were prepared, leading to compound 28 with significant gains in potency (EC 50 = 0.92 μM), solubility, and microsomal stability and a demonstrated absence of cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells (CC 50 > 20 μM). The compounds demonstrated excellent blood-brain barrier permeability in an in vitro assay, thereby providing a new structural scaffold that inhibits N. fowleri viability and permits the investigation of therapeutic interventions in an understudied neglected disease.
Keyphrases
- blood brain barrier
- cerebral ischemia
- endothelial cells
- resting state
- white matter
- high throughput
- induced apoptosis
- physical activity
- tissue engineering
- functional connectivity
- oxidative stress
- subarachnoid hemorrhage
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- weight loss
- drug induced
- emergency department
- pluripotent stem cells
- drug discovery
- cell death
- multiple sclerosis
- single cell
- adverse drug