Trisubstituted pyrazolopyrimidines as novel angiogenesis inhibitors

PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e54607. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054607. Epub 2013 Jan 15.

Abstract

Current inhibitors of angiogenesis comprise either therapeutic antibodies (e.g. bevacicumab binding to VEGF-A) or small molecular inhibitors of receptor tyrosin kinases like e.g. sunitinib, which inhibits PDGFR and VEGFR. We have recently identified cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) as novel alternative and pharmacologically accessible target in the context of angiogenesis. In the present work we demonstrate that trisubstituted pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidines constitute a novel class of compounds which potently inhibit angiogenesis. All seven tested compounds inhibited endothelial cell proliferation with IC(50) values between 1 and 18 µM. Interestingly, this seems not to be due to cytotoxicity, since none of them showed acute cytotoxic effects on endothelial cells at a concentration of 10 µM,. The three most potent compounds (LGR1404, LGR1406 and LGR1407) also inhibited cell migration (by 27, 51 and 31%, resp.), chemotaxis (by 50, 70 and 60% in accumulative distance, resp.), and tube formation (by 25, 60 and 30% of total tube length, resp.) at the non-toxic concentration of 10 µM. Furthermore, angiogenesis was reduced in vivo in the CAM assay by these three compounds. A kinase selectivity profiling revealed that the compounds prevalently inhibit Cdk2, Cdk5 and Cdk9. The phenotype of the migrating cells (reduced formation of lamellipodia, loss of Rac-1 translocation to the membrane) resembles the previously described effects of silencing of Cdk5 in endothelial cells. We conclude that especially LGR1406 and LGR1407 are highly attractive anti-angiogenic compounds, whose effects seem to largely depend on their Cdk5 inhibiting properties.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors / toxicity
  • Cell Death / drug effects
  • Cell Movement / drug effects
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 / metabolism
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinases / metabolism
  • Endothelial Cells / drug effects
  • Endothelial Cells / metabolism
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
  • Humans
  • Protein Transport / drug effects
  • Pseudopodia / drug effects
  • Pseudopodia / metabolism
  • Pyrazoles / chemistry
  • Pyrazoles / pharmacology*
  • Pyrazoles / toxicity
  • Pyrimidines / chemistry
  • Pyrimidines / pharmacology*
  • Pyrimidines / toxicity
  • rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / metabolism

Substances

  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors
  • Pyrazoles
  • Pyrimidines
  • pyrazolo(3,4-d)pyrimidine
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinases
  • rac1 GTP-Binding Protein

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants P305/12/0783 (Czech Science Foundation), ED0007/01/01 of Centre of the Region Hana for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Czech Republic), by the German Research Foundation (DFG), grant ZA 186/4-1, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.