Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a complex multifactorial disorder, mainly characterized by the progressive loss of memory and cognitive, motor, and functional capacity. The absence of effective therapies available for AD alongside the consecutive failures in the central nervous system (CNS) drug development has been motivating the search for new disease-modifying therapeutic strategies for this disease. To address this issue, the multitarget directed ligands (MTDLs) are emerging as a therapeutic alternative to target the multiple AD-related factors. Following this concept, herein we describe the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a family of chromeno[3,4-b]xanthones as well as their (E)-2-[2-(propargyloxy)styryl]chromone precursors, as first-in-class acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and β-amyloid (Aβ) aggregation dual-inhibitors. Compounds 4b and 10 emerged as well-balanced dual-target inhibitors, with IC50 values of 3.9 and 2.9 μM for AChE and inhibitory percentages of 70 and 66% for Aβ aggregation, respectively. The molecular docking showed that most of the compounds bound to AChE through hydrogen bonds with residues of the catalytic triad and π-stacking interactions between the main scaffold and the aromatic residues present in the binding pocket. The interesting well-balanced activities of these compounds makes them interesting templates for the development of new multitarget compounds for AD.
阿尔茨海默病(AD)是一种复杂的多因素疾病,主要特征为渐进性记忆丧失和认知、运动和功能能力下降。由于中枢神经系统(CNS)药物开发的连续失败,加上缺乏有效的AD治疗方案,推动了对该疾病新的疾病修饰治疗策略的探索。为了解决这个问题,多靶点定向配体(MTDLs)正在成为治疗多种AD相关因素的治疗替代品。基于这个概念,本文描述了一系列chromeno [3,4-b] xanthones及其(E)-2- [2-(丙炔氧基)苯乙烯基] chromone前体的设计、合成和生物评价,作为首个丙酰胆碱酯酶(AChE)和β-淀粉样蛋白(Aβ)聚集双重抑制剂。化合物4b和10成为平衡双重靶点抑制剂,其AChE的IC50值分别为3.9和2.9 μM,Aβ聚集的抑制百分比分别为70%和66%。分子对接显示大多数化合物通过与催化三联体残基的氢键和主要支架与结合口袋中存在的芳香残基之间的π堆积相互作用与AChE结合。这些化合物的有趣平衡活性使它们成为开发新的AD多靶点化合物的有趣模板。