Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, United States.
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, U.K.
J Med Chem. 2024 May 9;67(9):7443-7457. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00303. Epub 2024 Apr 29.
are free-living pathogenic protozoa that cause blinding keratitis, disseminated infection, and granulomatous amebic encephalitis, which is generally fatal. The development of efficient and safe drugs is a critical unmet need. sterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51) is an essential enzyme of the sterol biosynthetic pathway. Repurposing antifungal azoles for amoebic infections has been reported, but their inhibitory effects on CYP51 enzymatic activity have not been studied. Here, we report catalytic properties, inhibition, and structural characterization of CYP51 from . The enzyme displays a 100-fold substrate preference for obtusifoliol over lanosterol, supporting the plant-like cycloartenol-based pathway in the pathogen. The strongest inhibition was observed with voriconazole (1 h IC 0.45 μM), VT1598 (0.25 μM), and VT1161 (0.20 μM). The crystal structures of CYP51 with bound VT1161 (2.24 Å) and without an inhibitor (1.95 Å), presented here, can be used in the development of azole-based scaffolds to achieve optimal amoebicidal effectiveness.
是自由生活的致病性原生动物,可引起致盲角膜炎、播散性感染和肉芽肿性阿米巴脑炎,通常是致命的。开发高效、安全的药物是一个关键的未满足需求。甾醇 14α-脱甲基酶(CYP51)是甾醇生物合成途径的必需酶。已报道将抗真菌唑类药物重新用于阿米巴感染,但尚未研究其对 CYP51 酶活性的抑制作用。在这里,我们报告了. 中的 CYP51 的催化特性、抑制作用和结构特征。该酶对 obtusifoliol 的底物偏好性比 lanosterol 高 100 倍,支持病原体中基于植物性 cycloaertenol 的途径。观察到与 voriconazole(1 h IC 0.45 μM)、VT1598(0.25 μM)和 VT1161(0.20 μM)的最强抑制作用。这里呈现的与结合的 VT1161(2.24 Å)和没有抑制剂的 CYP51(1.95 Å)的晶体结构可用于开发基于唑类的支架,以实现最佳的杀阿米巴效果。