Aim: No antiviral medications are currently approved to treat enterovirus (EV)-associated disease or prevent EV infection.
Methods: In this study, a series of probenecid derivatives were designed via a rational strategy and synthesized to obtain more potent anti-EV agents.
Results: Compounds 8 and 24 exhibited the most potent activity against EV D68 and A71, with half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values of 2.49/2.09 and 2.59/2.41 μM, respectively, and revealed a broad inhibition spectrum toward other EV strains, with high selectivity indices. Additionally, compounds 8 and 24 showed good stability in rat serum, with half-lives of 48.39 and 60.26 min, respectively.
Conclusion: Compounds 8 and 24 are the promising candidates for the development of new agents against EV D68 and A71 viruses.
Keywords: EV A71; EV D68; metabolic stability; optimization; probenecid derivatives.