Opioids are the mainstay for cancer and non-cancer pain management. However, their use is often associated with multiple adverse effects such as drug dependence, respiratory depression, dizziness, urinary retention, and constipation. Among these, the most common and persistent one is probably opioid-induced constipation (OIC). The prevalence of OIC is very high in various populations investigated. Moreover, unlike other adverse effects of opioids, tolerance development to constipation is minimal, and therefore the problem persists and worsens with dose escalation. Peripherally restricted MOR antagonists may alleviate the symptoms of OIC without compromising the analgesic effects of opioids. However, various adverse effects are associated with existing peripheral opioid antagonists, which hinder their application and justify the search for new chemical entities in this category. We hypothesize that a highly selective MOR antagonist with peripherally selective activity will be a suitable drug candidate for further development as an OIC treatment. Three integrated specific aims will test this central hypothesis: 1) to design and synthesize novel ligands as highl selective peripheral MOR antagonists. 2) to determine binding affinity, efficacy, and basic biopharmaceutical/metabolic properties of the new ligands as peripherally restricted MOR antagonists using in vitro assays in a progressive manner; 3) to examine the in vivo potency, efficacy, and PK/PD profiles of novel leads and compare with known drugs to identify drug candidates for further preclinical and clinical studies for OIC treatment.

Public Health Relevance

Morphine, along with other opioids, has been the mainstay for cancer and non-cancer pain management while their most common and persistent adverse effect is probably constipation. This proposal will focus on the development of peripherally selective mu opioid receptor antagonist as novel treatment for opioid induced constipation by applying multidisciplinary tools, including chemical synthesis, medicinal chemistry, molecular modeling, neuropharmacology, and molecular and cellular biology. These studies will build a solid foundation to develop potential clinical candidates as suitable treatments to this disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA024022-07
Application #
9031748
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (DDNS)
Program Officer
Shih, Ming L
Project Start
2007-12-01
Project End
2020-01-31
Budget Start
2016-02-01
Budget End
2017-01-31
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
$377,437
Indirect Cost
$129,937
Name
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Pharmacy
DUNS #
105300446
City
Richmond
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
23298
Pagare, Piyusha P; Wang, Huiqun; Wang, Xiang-Yang et al. (2018) Understanding the role of glucose regulated protein 170 (GRP170) as a nucleotide exchange factor through molecular simulations. J Mol Graph Model 85:160-170
Falls, Bethany A; Zhang, Yan (2018) Insights into the Allosteric Mechanism of Setmelanotide (RM-493) as a Potent and First-in-Class Melanocortin-4 Receptor (MC4R) Agonist To Treat Rare Genetic Disorders of Obesity through an in Silico Approach. ACS Chem Neurosci :
Zheng, Yi; Obeng, Samuel; Wang, Huiqun et al. (2018) Methylation Products of 6?- N-Heterocyclic Substituted Naltrexamine Derivatives as Potential Peripheral Opioid Receptor Modulators. ACS Chem Neurosci :
Wang, Huiqun; Kellogg, Glen E; Xu, Ping et al. (2018) Exploring the binding mechanisms of diaminopimelic acid analogs to meso-diaminopimelate dehydrogenase by molecular modeling. J Mol Graph Model 83:100-111
Obeng, Samuel; Yuan, Yunyun; Jali, Abdulmajeed et al. (2018) In vitro and in vivo functional profile characterization of 17-cyclopropylmethyl-3,14?-dihydroxy-4,5?-epoxy-6?-(isoquinoline-3-carboxamido)morphinan (NAQ) as a low efficacy mu opioid receptor modulator. Eur J Pharmacol 827:32-40
Obeng, Samuel; Wang, Huiqun; Jali, Abdulmajeed et al. (2018) Structure-Activity Relationship Studies of 6?- and 6?-Indolylacetamidonaltrexamine Derivatives as Bitopic Mu Opioid Receptor Modulators and Elaboration of the ""Message-Address Concept"" To Comprehend Their Functional Conversion. ACS Chem Neurosci :
Cornelissen, Jeremy C; Obeng, Samuel; Rice, Kenner C et al. (2018) Application of Receptor Theory to the Design and Use of Fixed-Proportion Mu-Opioid Agonist and Antagonist Mixtures in Rhesus Monkeys. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 365:37-47
Pagare, Piyusha P; Zaidi, Saheem A; Zhang, Xiaomei et al. (2017) Understanding molecular interactions between scavenger receptor A and its natural product inhibitors through molecular modeling studies. J Mol Graph Model 77:189-199
Wang, Huiqun; Zaidi, Saheem A; Zhang, Yan (2017) Binding mode analyses of NAP derivatives as mu opioid receptor selective ligands through docking studies and molecular dynamics simulation. Bioorg Med Chem 25:2463-2471
Williams, Dwight A; Zheng, Yi; David, Bethany G et al. (2016) 6?-N-Heterocyclic Substituted Naltrexamine Derivative BNAP: A Peripherally Selective Mixed MOR/KOR Ligand. ACS Chem Neurosci 7:1120-9

Showing the most recent 10 out of 36 publications