Synthesis and Evaluation of Silanediols as Highly Selective Uncompetitive Inhibitors of Human Neutrophil Elastase

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an increasing health problem and is estimated to be the fifth leading cause of death in 2020 according to the World Health Organization. Current treatments are only palliative, and therefore the development of new medicine for the treatment of COPD is urgent. Human Neutrophil Elastase (HNE) is a serine protease that is heavily involved in the progression of COPD through inflammatory breakdown of lung tissue. Consequently, inhibitors of HNE are of great interest as therapeutics. In this article, the development of silanediol peptide isosters as inhibitors of HNE is presented. Kinetic studies revealed that incorporation of a silanediol isoster in the inhibitor structure resulted in an uncompetitive mechanism of inhibition, which further resulted in excellent selectivity. The peculiar mechanism of inhibition and the resulting selectivity makes the presented inhibitors promising leads for the development of new HNE-inhibitor-based therapeutics for the treatment of COPD

Selective Arylsulfonamide Inhibitors of ADAM-17: Hit Optimization and Activity in Ovarian Cancer Cell Models

Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) is expressed at the surface of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells and is released in a soluble form (sALCAM) by ADAM-17-mediated shedding. This process is relevant to EOC cell motility and invasiveness, which is reduced by inhibitors of ADAM-17. In addition, ADAM-17 plays a key role in EGFR signaling and thus may represent a useful target in anticancer therapy. Herein we report our hit optimization effort to identify potent and selective ADAM-17 inhibitors, starting with previously identified inhibitor <b>1</b>. A new series of secondary sulfonamido-based hydroxamates was designed and synthesized. The biological activity of the newly synthesized compounds was tested in vitro on isolated enzymes and human EOC cell lines. The optimization process led to compound <b>21</b>, which showed an IC₅₀ of 1.9 nM on ADAM-17 with greatly increased selectivity. This compound maintained good inhibitory properties on sALCAM shedding in several in vitro assays