1区 · 医学
Article
作者: Brenk, Ruth ; Spinks, Daniel ; Norcross, Neil R. ; Hallyburton, Irene ; Ferguson, Michael A. J. ; Brand, Stephen ; Smith, Victoria C. ; Frearson, Julie A. ; Harrison, Justin R. ; McElroy, Stuart P. ; Stojanovski, Laste ; Cleghorn, Laura A. T. ; Wyatt, Paul G. ; Bayliss, Tracy ; Norval, Suzanne ; Fairlamb, Alan H. ; Gilbert, Ian H. ; Read, Kevin D. ; Torrie, Leah S. ; Robinson, David A.
N-Myristoyltransferase (NMT) represents a promising drug target for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), which is caused by the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma brucei. We report the optimization of a high throughput screening hit (1) to give a lead molecule DDD85646 (63), which has potent activity against the enzyme (IC(50) = 2 nM) and T. brucei (EC(50) = 2 nM) in culture. The compound has good oral pharmacokinetics and cures rodent models of peripheral HAT infection. This compound provides an excellent tool for validation of T. brucei NMT as a drug target for HAT as well as a valuable lead for further optimization.