Discovery of novel multidrug resistance protein 4 (MRP4) inhibitors as active agents reducing resistance to anticancer drug 6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP) by structure and ligand-based virtual screening

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 15;13(10):e0205175. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205175. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Multidrug resistance protein 4 (MRP4/ABCC4) is an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter. It is associated with multidrug resistance (MDR), which is becoming a growing challenge to the treatment of cancer and infections. In the context of several types of cancer in which MRP4 is overexpressed, MRP4 inhibition manifests striking effects against cancer progression and drug resistance. In this study, we combined ligand-based and structure-based drug design strategy, by searching the SPECS chemical library to find compounds that are most likely to bind to MRP4. Clustering analysis based on a two-dimensional fingerprint was performed to help with visual selection of potential compounds. Cell viability assays with potential inhibitors and the anticancer drug 6-MP were carried out to identify their bioactivity. As a result, 39 compounds were tested and seven of them reached inhibition above 55% with 6-MP. Then compound Cpd23 was discovered to improve HEK293/MRP4 cell sensibility to 6-MP dramatically, and low concentration Cpd23 (5 μM) achieved the equivalent effect of 50 μM MK571. The accumulation of 6-MP was determined by validated high-performance liquid chromatography methods, and pretreatment of the HEK293/MRP4 cells with 50 μM MK571 or Cpd23 resulted in significantly increased accumulation of 6-MP by approximately 1.5 times. This compound was first reported with a novel scaffold compared with previously known MRP4 inhibitors, which is a hopeful molecular tool that can be used for overcoming multidrug resistance research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Computer-Aided Design
  • Drug Design
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / drug effects*
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / physiology
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Mercaptopurine / pharmacology*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Structure
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins / metabolism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • ABCC4 protein, human
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins
  • Mercaptopurine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 21772005, 21572010], http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.