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Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) constitutes a broad-spectrum modulator of homeostasis in mammals, providing therapeutic opportunities for several pathologies. Its two main receptors, cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) and type 2 (CB2) receptors, mediate anti-inflammatory responses; however, their differing p...

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Autores principales: Cho, Analia Young Hwa, Chung, Hery, Romero-Parra, Javier, Kumar, Poulami, Allarà, Marco, Ligresti, Alessia, Gallardo-Garrido, Carlos, Pessoa-Mahana, Hernán, Faúndez, Mario, Pessoa-Mahana, Carlos David
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
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Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10341893/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37446093
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241310918
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author Cho, Analia Young Hwa
Chung, Hery
Romero-Parra, Javier
Kumar, Poulami
Allarà, Marco
Ligresti, Alessia
Gallardo-Garrido, Carlos
Pessoa-Mahana, Hernán
Faúndez, Mario
Pessoa-Mahana, Carlos David
author_facet Cho, Analia Young Hwa
Chung, Hery
Romero-Parra, Javier
Kumar, Poulami
Allarà, Marco
Ligresti, Alessia
Gallardo-Garrido, Carlos
Pessoa-Mahana, Hernán
Faúndez, Mario
Pessoa-Mahana, Carlos David
author_sort Cho, Analia Young Hwa
collection PubMed
description The endocannabinoid system (ECS) constitutes a broad-spectrum modulator of homeostasis in mammals, providing therapeutic opportunities for several pathologies. Its two main receptors, cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) and type 2 (CB2) receptors, mediate anti-inflammatory responses; however, their differing patterns of expression make the development of CB2-selective ligands therapeutically more attractive. The benzo[d]imidazole ring is considered to be a privileged scaffold in drug discovery and has demonstrated its versatility in the development of molecules with varied pharmacologic properties. On the other hand, the main psychoactive component of Cannabis sativa, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), can be structurally described as an aliphatic terpenoid motif fused to an aromatic polyphenolic (resorcinol) structure. Inspired by the structure of this phytocannabinoid, we combined different natural product motifs with a benzo[d]imidazole scaffold to obtain a new library of compounds targeting the CB2 receptor. Here, we synthesized 26 new compounds, out of which 15 presented CB2 binding and 3 showed potent agonist activity. SAR analysis indicated that the presence of bulky aliphatic or aromatic natural product motifs at position 2 of the benzo[d]imidazoles ring linked by an electronegative atom is essential for receptor recognition, while substituents with moderate bulkiness at position 1 of the heterocyclic core also participate in receptor recognition. Compounds 5, 6, and 16 were further characterized through in vitro cAMP functional assay, showing potent EC50 values between 20 and 3 nM, and compound 6 presented a significant difference between the EC50 of pharmacologic activity (3.36 nM) and IC50 of toxicity (30–38 µM).
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spelling pubmed-103418932023-07-14 Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists Cho, Analia Young Hwa Chung, Hery Romero-Parra, Javier Kumar, Poulami Allarà, Marco Ligresti, Alessia Gallardo-Garrido, Carlos Pessoa-Mahana, Hernán Faúndez, Mario Pessoa-Mahana, Carlos David Int J Mol Sci Article The endocannabinoid system (ECS) constitutes a broad-spectrum modulator of homeostasis in mammals, providing therapeutic opportunities for several pathologies. Its two main receptors, cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) and type 2 (CB2) receptors, mediate anti-inflammatory responses; however, their differing patterns of expression make the development of CB2-selective ligands therapeutically more attractive. The benzo[d]imidazole ring is considered to be a privileged scaffold in drug discovery and has demonstrated its versatility in the development of molecules with varied pharmacologic properties. On the other hand, the main psychoactive component of Cannabis sativa, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), can be structurally described as an aliphatic terpenoid motif fused to an aromatic polyphenolic (resorcinol) structure. Inspired by the structure of this phytocannabinoid, we combined different natural product motifs with a benzo[d]imidazole scaffold to obtain a new library of compounds targeting the CB2 receptor. Here, we synthesized 26 new compounds, out of which 15 presented CB2 binding and 3 showed potent agonist activity. SAR analysis indicated that the presence of bulky aliphatic or aromatic natural product motifs at position 2 of the benzo[d]imidazoles ring linked by an electronegative atom is essential for receptor recognition, while substituents with moderate bulkiness at position 1 of the heterocyclic core also participate in receptor recognition. Compounds 5, 6, and 16 were further characterized through in vitro cAMP functional assay, showing potent EC50 values between 20 and 3 nM, and compound 6 presented a significant difference between the EC50 of pharmacologic activity (3.36 nM) and IC50 of toxicity (30–38 µM). MDPI 2023-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC10341893/ /pubmed/37446093 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241310918 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Cho, Analia Young Hwa
Chung, Hery
Romero-Parra, Javier
Kumar, Poulami
Allarà, Marco
Ligresti, Alessia
Gallardo-Garrido, Carlos
Pessoa-Mahana, Hernán
Faúndez, Mario
Pessoa-Mahana, Carlos David
Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists
title Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists
title_full Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists
title_fullStr Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists
title_full_unstemmed Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists
title_short Motifs in Natural Products as Useful Scaffolds to Obtain Novel Benzo[d]imidazole-Based Cannabinoid Type 2 (CB2) Receptor Agonists
title_sort motifs in natural products as useful scaffolds to obtain novel benzo[d]imidazole-based cannabinoid type 2 (cb2) receptor agonists
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10341893/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37446093
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241310918
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