Biological and structural investigation of tetrahydro-β-carboline-based selective HDAC6 inhibitors with improved stability

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2024 Oct 5:276:116676. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116676.
Simon Scheuerer  1 Lucia Motlova  2 Linda Schäker-Hübner  3 Andreas Sellmer  1 Felix Feller  3 Fabian J Ertl  4 Pierre Koch  4 Finn K Hansen  3 Cyril Barinka  2 Siavosh Mahboobi  5
Affiliations
  • 1. Institute of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry I, University of Regensburg, 93040, Regensburg, Germany.
  • 2. Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, BIOCEV, Prumyslova 595, 252 50, Vestec, Czech Republic.
  • 3. Pharmaceutical Institute, Department of Pharmaceutical and Cell Biological Chemistry, University of Bonn, 53121, Bonn, Germany.
  • 4. Institute of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry II, University of Regensburg, 93040, Regensburg, Germany.
  • 5. Institute of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry I, University of Regensburg, 93040, Regensburg, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

Our previously reported HDAC6 Inhibitor (HDAC6i) Marbostat-100 (4) has provided many arguments for further clinical evaluation. By the substitution of the acidic hydrogen of 4 for different carbon residues, we were able to generate an all-carbon stereocenter, which significantly improves the hydrolytic stability of the inhibitor. Further asymmetric synthesis has shown that the (S)-configured inhibitors preferentially bind to HDAC6. This led to the highly selective and potent methyl-substituted derivative S-29b, which elicited a long-lasting tubulin hyperacetylation in MV4-11 cells. Finally, a crystal structure of the HDAC6/S-29b complex provided mechanistic explanation for the high potency and stereoselectivity of synthesized compound series.

Keywords
Chemical structure; Enantiomers; HDAC selectivity; Histone deacetylase inhibitors; Phenylhydroxamate; Tetrahydro-β-carboline.