Characterization of Competitive Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum cGMP‐Dependent Protein Kinase**

Abstract

Plasmodium falciparum cGMP‐dependent protein kinase (PfPKG) is an enticing antimalarial drug target. Novel chemotypes are needed because existing inhibitors have safety issues that may prevent further development. This work demonstrates isoxazole‐based compounds are potent ATP competitive inhibitors of PfPKG and discloses a new analogue in this series. Isoxazoles 3 and 5 had Ki values that are comparable to a known standard, 4‐[2‐(4‐fluorophenyl)‐5‐(1‐methylpiperidine‐4‐yl)‐1H pyrrol‐3‐yl] pyridine. They also exhibited excellent selectivity for PfPKG over the human orthologue and the gatekeeper mutant T618Q PfPKG, which mimics the less accessible binding site of the human orthologue. The human orthologue's larger binding site volume is predicted to explain the selectivity of the inhibitors for the P. falciparum enzyme.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Feb 23, 2022
Source ID
10.1002/cbic.202100704

Entities

People

  • David P. Rotella
  • John J. Siekierka
  • Kutub Ashraf
  • Mariana Laureano de Souza
  • Melvin Delvillar
  • Nina M Goodey
  • Purnima Bhanot
  • Ramappa Chakrasali
  • Rammohan R. Yadav Bheemanaboina
  • Tamara Kreiss
  • Tyler Eck

Organizations

  • Montclair State University
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Rutgers University
  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Microbial Pathology
  • Molecular Biology and Genetics
  • Parasitology and Pharmacology of Malaria.