We previously showed that 5-ethynyl-(1-β-D-ribofuranosyl)imidazole-4-carboxamide (1; EICAR) is a potent anti-dengue virus (DENV) compound but is cytotoxic to some cell lines, while its 4-thio derivative, 5-ethynyl-(4-thio-1-β-D-ribofuranosyl)imidazole-4-carboxamide (2; 4′-thioEICAR), has less cytotoxicity but also less anti-DENV activity. Based on the hypothesis that the lower anti-DENV activity of 2 is due to reduced susceptibility to phosphorylation by cellular kinase(s), we investigated whether a monophosphate prodrug of 2 can improve its activity. Here, we first prepared two types of prodrug of 1, which revealed that the S-acyl-2-thioethyl (SATE) prodrug had stronger anti-DENV activity than the aryloxyphosphoramidate (so-called ProTide) prodrug. Based on these findings, we next prepared the SATE prodrug of 4′-thioEICAR 18. As expected, the resulting 18 showed potent anti-DENV activity, which was comparable to that of 1; however, its cytotoxicity was also increased relative to 2. Our findings suggest that prodrugs of 4′-thioribonucleoside derivatives such as EICAR (1) represent an effective approach to developing potent biologically active compounds; however, the balance between antiviral activity and cytotoxicity remains to be addressed.
                                    我们之前表明,5-
乙炔基-(1-β-D-
呋喃核糖基)
咪唑-4-甲酰胺 (1; EICAR) 是一种有效的抗登革热病毒 (DENV) 化合物,但对某些
细胞系具有细胞毒性,而其 4-
硫代衍
生物 5-
乙炔基-(4-
硫代-1-β-D-
呋喃核糖基)
咪唑-4-甲酰胺 (2; 4'-thioEICAR) 具有较低的细胞毒性,但抗 DENV 活性也较低。基于2的较低抗DENV活性是由于对细胞激酶
磷酸化的敏感性降低所致的假设,我们研究了2的单
磷酸前药是否可以提高其活性。在这里,我们首先制备了两种1的前药,结果表明S-酰基-2-
硫乙基(
SATE)前药比芳氧基
氨基
磷酸酯(所谓的ProTide)前药具有更强的抗DENV活性。基于这些发现,我们接下来制备了4'-thioEICAR 18的
SATE前药。正如预期的那样,所得的18显示出有效的抗DENV活性,与1相当;然而,其细胞毒性相对于 2 也有所增加。我们的研究结果表明 EICAR (1) 等 4'-
硫核糖核苷衍
生物的前药代表了开发有效
生物活性化合物的有效方法;然而,抗病毒活性和细胞毒性之间的平衡仍有待解决。