Design, synthesis, and pharmacological evaluation of mefloquine-based ligands as novel antituberculosis agents

ChemMedChem. 2007 Nov;2(11):1624-30. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.200700112.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is presently regarded as one of the most dangerous infective diseases worldwide and one of the major AIDS-associated infections. To shorten the current treatment regimen, there is an urgent need to identify new anti-TB agents which are active against both replicating TB (R-TB) and nonreplicating TB (NRP-TB). Mefloquine, a well-known antimalarial drug was found to possess reasonable activity against NRP-TB, and accordingly, 30 new analogues were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-TB activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H(37)Rv. As the target of mefloquine in Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains unknown, we resorted to modifying mefloquine in a variety of chemically convenient ways, which led us in turn to the active hydrazone 10 a. Further modifications of 10 a led to compound 7 f, with an improved anti-TB activity/selectivity profile with both less cytotoxicity and less predicted CNS side effects compared with mefloquine. The clear structure-activity relationships (SARs) derived from this study should facilitate our ultimate goal of identifying improved anti-TB agents.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antitubercular Agents / chemical synthesis
  • Antitubercular Agents / chemistry*
  • Antitubercular Agents / pharmacology
  • Chlorocebus aethiops
  • Drug Design
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Ligands
  • Mefloquine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Mefloquine / chemical synthesis
  • Mefloquine / pharmacology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Structure
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Vero Cells

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents
  • Ligands
  • Mefloquine