Identification of a New Class of Selective Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter Subtype 1 (EAAT1) Inhibitors Followed by a Structure-Activity-Relationship Study

Stinne Wessel Hansen, Mette Norman Erichsen, Bingru Fu, Walden Emil Bjørn-Yoshimoto, Bjarke Abrahamsen, Jacob Christian Hansen, Anders A. Jensen, Lennart Bunch

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Abstract

Screening of a small compound library at the three excitatory amino acid transporter subtypes 1–3 (EAAT1–3) resulted in the identification of compound (Z)-4-chloro-3-(5-((3-(2-ethoxy-2-oxoethyl)-2,4-dioxothiazolidin-5-ylidene)methyl)furan-2-yl)benzoic acid (1a) that exhibited a distinct preference as an inhibitor at EAAT1 (IC50 20 μM) compared to EAAT2 and EAAT3 (IC50 > 300 μM). This prompted us to subject 1a to an elaborate structure–activity relationship study through the purchase and synthesis and subsequent pharmacological characterization of a total of 36 analogues. Although this effort did not result in analogues with substantially improved inhibitory potencies at EAAT1 compared to that displayed by the hit, it provided a detailed insight into structural requirements for EAAT1 activity of this scaffold. The discovery of this new class of EAAT1-selective inhibitors not only supplements the currently available pharmacological tools in the EAAT field but also substantiates the notion that EAAT ligands not derived from α-amino acids hold considerable potential in terms of subtype-selective modulation of the transporters.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Medicinal Chemistry
Volume59
Issue number19
Pages (from-to)8757-8770
Number of pages14
ISSN0022-2623
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

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