From phenothiazine to 3-phenyl-1,4-benzothiazine derivatives as inhibitors of the Staphylococcus aureus NorA multidrug efflux pump

J Med Chem. 2008 Jul 24;51(14):4321-30. doi: 10.1021/jm701623q. Epub 2008 Jun 25.

Abstract

Overexpression of efflux pumps is an important mechanism by which bacteria evade effects of substrate antimicrobial agents and inhibition of such pumps is a promising strategy to circumvent this resistance mechanism. NorA is a Staphylococcus aureus multidrug efflux pump, the activity of which confers decreased susceptibility to many structurally unrelated agents, including fluoroquinolones, resulting in a multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotype. In this work, a series of 1,4-benzothiazine derivatives were designed and synthesized as a minimized structural template of phenothiazine MDR efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) in an effort to identify more potent S. aureus NorA EPIs. Almost all derivatives evaluated showed good activity in combination with ciprofloxacin against S. aureus ATCC 25923; some were capable of completely restoring ciprofloxacin activity in a norA-overexpressing strain (SA-K2378). Compounds 6k and 7j displayed good activity against SA-1199B, a strain that also overexpresses norA, in an ethidium bromide (EtBr) efflux inhibition assay.

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Bacterial Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Ciprofloxacin / pharmacology
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins / metabolism
  • Phenothiazines / chemistry
  • Phenothiazines / pharmacology*
  • Staphylococcus aureus / drug effects*
  • Staphylococcus aureus / metabolism
  • Thiazines / chemistry
  • Thiazines / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins
  • Phenothiazines
  • Thiazines
  • NorA protein, Staphylococcus
  • Ciprofloxacin
  • phenothiazine