Identification of New Molecular Entities (NMEs) as Potential Leads against Tuberculosis from Open Source Compound Repository

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 7;10(12):e0144018. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144018. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to provide a number of diverse and promising early-lead compounds that will feed into the drug discovery pipeline for developing new antitubercular agents. The results from the phenotypic screening of the open-source compound library against Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium bovis (BCG) with hit validation against M. tuberculosis (H37Rv) have identified novel potent hit compounds. To determine their druglikeness, a systematic analysis of physicochemical properties of the hit compounds has been performed using cheminformatics tools. The hit molecules were analysed by clustering based on their chemical finger prints and structural similarity determining their chemical diversity. The hit compound library is also filtered for druglikeness based on the physicochemical descriptors following Lipinski filters. The robust filtration of hits followed by secondary screening against BCG, H37Rv and cytotoxicity evaluation has identified 12 compounds with potential against H37Rv (MIC range 0.4 to 12.5 μM). Furthermore in cytotoxicity assays, 12 compounds displayed low cytotoxicity against liver and lung cells providing high therapeutic index > 50. To avoid any variations in activity due to the route of chemical synthesis, the hit compounds were re synthesized independently and confirmed for their potential against H37Rv. Taken together, the hits reported here provides copious potential starting points for generation of new leads eventually adds to drug discovery pipeline against tuberculosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antitubercular Agents* / chemistry
  • Antitubercular Agents* / pharmacology
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / methods
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Humans
  • Mycobacterium bovis / growth & development
  • Mycobacterium smegmatis / growth & development
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / growth & development*
  • Tuberculosis / drug therapy*

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents

Grants and funding

The authors thank Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD)-Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India for financial support under project code HCP-0001. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Syngene International Ltd. provided support in the form of salaries for authors [TB], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.