Design, diversity-oriented synthesis and biological evaluation of novel heterocycle derivatives as non-nucleoside HBV capsid protein inhibitors
Haiyong Jia 1 , Ji Yu 2 , Xianhong Du 3 , Srinivasulu Cherukupalli 2 , Peng Zhan 4 , Xinyong Liu 5
Affiliations
Affiliations
1
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, 250012, Jinan, Shandong, PR China; School of Pharmacy, Weifang Medical University, 261053, Weifang, Shandong, PR China.
2
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, 250012, Jinan, Shandong, PR China.
3
School of Pharmacy, Weifang Medical University, 261053, Weifang, Shandong, PR China; Department of Immunology, Key Laboratory for Experimental, Teratology of Ministry of Education, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, 250012, Shandong Province, China.
4
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, 250012, Jinan, Shandong, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
5
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Culture Road, 250012, Jinan, Shandong, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 32712535 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112495
Abstract
The capsid assembly is a significant phase for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) lifespan and is an essential target for anti-HBV drug discovery and development. Herein, we used scaffold hopping, bioisosterism, and pharmacophore hybrid-based strategies to design and synthesize six series of various heterocycle derivatives (pyrazole, thiazole, pyrazine, pyrimidine, and pyridine) and screened for in vitro anti-HBV non-nucleoside activity. Drug candidate NZ-4 and AT-130 were used as lead compounds. Several compounds exhibited prominent anti-HBV activity compared to lead compound NZ-4 and positive drug Lamivudine, especially compound II-8b, showed the most prominent anti-HBV DNA replication activity (IC50 = 2.2 ± 1.1 μM). Also compounds IV-8e and VII-5b showed the best in vitro anti-HBsAg secretion (IC50 = 3.8 ± 0.7 μM, CC50 > 100 μM) and anti-HBeAg secretion (IC50 = 9.7 ± 2.8 μM, CC50 > 100 μM) respectively. Besides, II-8b can interact HBV capsid protein with good affinity constants (KD = 60.0 μM), which is equivalent to lead compound NZ-4 ((KD = 50.6 μM). The preliminary structure-activity relationships (SARs) of the newly synthesized compounds were summarized, which may help researchers to discover more potent anti-HBV agents.