Synthesis, ADMET Properties, and In Vitro Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity of 5-Nitro-2-thiophenecarbaldehyde N-((E)-(5-Nitrothienyl)methylidene)hydrazone (KTU-286) against Staphylococcus aureus with Defined Resistance Mechanisms

Povilas Kavaliauskas; Birute Grybaite; Vytautas Mickevicius; Ruta Petraitiene; Ramune Grigaleviciute; Rita Planciuniene; Philip Gialanella; Alius Pockevicius; Vidmantas Petraitis

doi:10.3390/antibiotics9090612

Synthesis, ADMET Properties, and In Vitro Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity of 5-Nitro-2-thiophenecarbaldehyde N-((E)-(5-Nitrothienyl)methylidene)hydrazone (KTU-286) against Staphylococcus aureus with Defined Resistance Mechanisms

Antibiotics (Basel). 2020 Sep 17;9(9):612. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics9090612.

Authors

Povilas Kavaliauskas^{1

2

3}, Birute Grybaite⁴, Vytautas Mickevicius⁴, Ruta Petraitiene^{1

2}, Ramune Grigaleviciute³, Rita Planciuniene⁵, Philip Gialanella⁶, Alius Pockevicius⁷, Vidmantas Petraitis^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
² Institute of Infectious Diseases and Pathogenic Microbiology, 59115 Prienai, Lithuania.
³ Biological Research Center, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 47181 Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁴ Department of Organic Chemistry, Kaunas University of Technology, 50254 Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁵ Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 47181 Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁶ Department of Pathology, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY 10467, USA.
⁷ Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 47181 Kaunas, Lithuania.

Abstract

The emergence of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for high morbidity and mortality worldwide. New therapeutic options are needed to fight the increasing antimicrobial resistance among S. aureus in the clinical setting. We, therefore, characterized the in silico absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity (ADMET) and in vitro antimicrobial activity of 5-nitro-2-thiophenecarbaldehyde N-((E)-(5-nitrothienyl)methylidene)hydrazone (KTU-286) against drug-resistant S. aureus strains with genetically defined resistance mechanisms. The antimicrobial activity of KTU-286 was determined by CLSI recommendations. The ADMET properties were estimated by using in silico modeling. The activity on biofilm integrity was examined by crystal violet assay. KTU-286 demonstrated low estimated toxicity and low skin permeability. The highest antimicrobial activity was observed among pan-susceptible (Pan-S) S. aureus (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) 0.5-2.0 µg/mL, IC₅₀ = 0.460 µg/mL), followed by vancomycin resistant S. aureus (VRSA) (MIC 4.0 µg/mL, IC₅₀ = 1.697 µg/mL) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (MIC 1.0-16.0 µg/mL, IC₅₀ = 2.282 µg/mL). KTU-286 resulted in significant (p < 0.05) loss of S. aureus biofilm integrity in vitro. Further studies are needed for a better understanding of safety, synergistic relationship, and therapeutic potency of KTU-286.

Keywords: MRSA; Staphylococcus aureus; VRSA; antimicrobial; bisnitrothiophene; drug resistant; hydrazone; small molecules; thiophene derivatives.