Inhibition of the hERG Potassium Channel by a Methanesulphonate-Free E-4031 Analogue.

()-encoded potassium channels underlie the cardiac rapid delayed rectifier (I) potassium current, which is a major target for antiarrhythmic agents and diverse non-cardiac drugs linked to the drug-induced form of long QT syndrome. E-4031 is a high potency hERG channel inhibitor from the methanesulphonanilide drug family. This study utilized a methanesulphonate-lacking E-4031 analogue, "E-4031-17", to evaluate the role of the methanesulphonamide group in E-4031 inhibition of hERG. Whole-cell patch-clamp measurements of the hERG current (I) were made at physiological temperature from HEK 293 cells expressing wild-type (WT) and mutant hERG constructs. For E-4031, WT I was inhibited by a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC) of 15.8 nM, whilst the comparable value for E-4031-17 was 40.3 nM. Both compounds exhibited voltage- and time-dependent inhibition, but they differed in their response to successive applications of a long (10 s) depolarisation protocol, consistent with greater dissociation of E-4031-17 than the parent compound between applied commands. Voltage-dependent inactivation was left-ward voltage shifted for E-4031 but not for E-4031-17; however, inhibition by both compounds was strongly reduced by attenuated-inactivation mutations. Mutations of S6 and S5 aromatic residues (F656V, Y652A, F557L) greatly attenuated actions of both drugs. The S624A mutation also reduced I inhibition by both molecules. Overall, these results demonstrate that the lack of a methanesulphonate in E-4031-17 is not an impediment to high potency inhibition of I.