Dissecting the Pharmacophore of Curcumin. Which Structural Element Is Critical for Which Action?
作者:Alberto Minassi、Gonzalo Sánchez-Duffhues、Juan Antonio Collado、Eduardo Muñoz、Giovanni Appendino
DOI:10.1021/np400148e
日期:2013.6.28
The dietary phenolic curcumin (1a) is the archetypal network pharmacological agent; but is characterized by an ill-defined pharmacophore. Nevertheless, structure-activity studies of la have mainly focused on a single biological end-point and on a single structural element, the aliphatic his-enoyl moiety. The comparative investigation of more than one end-point of curcumin and the modification of its aromatic region have been largely overlooked. To address these Issues, we have investigated the effect of aromatic C-prenylation in the three archetypal structural types' of curcuminoids namely, curcumin, itself (1a), its truncated analogue 2a (C-5-curcumin), and (as the reduced, isoamyl version) the tetiahydro derivative 3a, comparatively evaluating reactivity with thiols and activity in biochemical (inhibition of NF-kappa B, HIV-1-Tat transactivation, Nrf2 activation) and phenotypic (anti-HIV action) assays sensitive, to a various extent, to thia-Michael addition. Prenylation, a validated maneuver for bioactivity modulation in plant phenolics, had no effect on Michael reactivity but was detrimental for all biological end-points investigated, dissecting thiol trapping from activity, While hydrogenation attenuated, but did not completely abrogate, the activity of 1a. The C-5-curcuminoid 2a outperformed the natural product in all end-points investigated and was identified as a novel high-potency anti-HIV lead in a cellular model of HIV infection. Taken together, these observations show that Michael reactivity is critical element of the curcumin pharmacophore, but also reveal a surprising sensitivity Of bioactivity; to C-prenylation of the vanillyl moiety.