Bacillus anthracis, Francisella tularensis and Yersinia pestis, the causative agents for anthrax, tularemia and plague, respectively, are all classed as Category A agents due to their potential use in bioterrorism and biowarfare. Literature clearly demonstrates that multi-drug resistant strains for all three have either been isolated from natural sources, or can be readily selected through standard selection processes. Further, although the wild-type strains of all three are variously treatable with current antibiotics, none of these antibiotics is ideal for treatment of these diseases, and only doxycycline is generally indicated for more than one agent (anthrax and plague). Thus, there is a clear imperative for developing new therapeutic agents against all three organisms. In preliminary work, we have developed inhibitors of the enzyme enoyl reductase, or FabI, that show strong efficacy against both B. anthracis and F. tularensis, as well as a variety of other pathogens. Additionally, MenE, an essential enzyme in menaquinone biosynthesis is predicted to to be essential for all three organisms, and has properties well suited for development as an antibiotic target for all three organisms. Based on extensive preliminary studies with both enzymatic systems, we propose to discover and biologically evaluate lead inhibitors of both FabI and MenE in this two-year ARRA-funded project. We will utilize an iterative process of structure-based molecular design, in silico screening of large compound libraries, high throughput screening of selected compounds, synthetic medicinal chemistry, initial in vitro toxicology evaluation, and initial animal proof of principle studies to discover compounds with potential efficacy against the three Category A pathogens, B. anthracis, F. tularensis and Y. pestis. The two targets in different metabolic pathways will provide advantageous complementary potential for lead and back-up compounds with very different characteristics. The goal of this U01 application is to develop an advanced series of broad spectrum antibacterial lead compounds that are safe, efficacious, and orally bioavailable in established animal models. PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04, Reissued 4/2006) Page 85 Continuation Format Page

Public Health Relevance

Our research will provide a foundation for the development of new potential drugs for the treatment of anthrax, tularemia and plague, which are caused by the three most dangerous bacterial bioterrorism agents, B. anthracis, F. tularensis and Y. pestis. PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04, Reissued 4/2006) Page 86 Continuation Format Page

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
5U01AI077949-02
Application #
7932894
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1-TP-M (J1))
Program Officer
Xu, Zuoyu
Project Start
2009-09-17
Project End
2012-08-31
Budget Start
2010-09-01
Budget End
2012-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$1,991,637
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Illinois at Chicago
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Pharmacy
DUNS #
098987217
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60612
Ren, Jinhong; Mistry, Tina L; Su, Pin-Chih et al. (2018) Determination of absolute configuration and binding efficacy of benzimidazole-based FabI inhibitors through the support of electronic circular dichroism and MM-GBSA techniques. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 28:2074-2079
Mistry, Tina L; Truong, Lena; Ghosh, Arun K et al. (2017) Benzimidazole-Based FabI Inhibitors: A Promising Novel Scaffold for Anti-staphylococcal Drug Development. ACS Infect Dis 3:54-61
Su, Pin-Chih; Johnson, Michael E (2016) Evaluating thermodynamic integration performance of the new amber molecular dynamics package and assess potential halogen bonds of enoyl-ACP reductase (FabI) benzimidazole inhibitors. J Comput Chem 37:836-47
Demissie, Robel D; Kabre, Pauline; Tuntland, Micheal L et al. (2016) An Efficient and Economical Assay to Screen for Triclosan Binding to FabI. J Biomol Screen 21:391-8
Mittal, Anuradha; Johnson, Michael E (2015) Conformational diversity of bacterial FabH: implications for molecular recognition specificity. J Mol Graph Model 55:115-22
Su, Pin-Chih; Tsai, Cheng-Chieh; Mehboob, Shahila et al. (2015) Comparison of radii sets, entropy, QM methods, and sampling on MM-PBSA, MM-GBSA, and QM/MM-GBSA ligand binding energies of F. tularensis enoyl-ACP reductase (FabI). J Comput Chem 36:1859-73
Mehboob, Shahila; Song, Jinhua; Hevener, Kirk E et al. (2015) Structural and biological evaluation of a novel series of benzimidazole inhibitors of Francisella tularensis enoyl-ACP reductase (FabI). Bioorg Med Chem Lett 25:1292-6
Zhang, Yan-Yan; Liu, Yong; Mehboob, Shahila et al. (2014) Metabolism-directed structure optimization of benzimidazole-based Francisella tularensis enoyl-reductase (FabI) inhibitors. Xenobiotica 44:404-16
Lv, Wei; Banerjee, Biplab; Molland, Katrina L et al. (2014) Synthesis of 3-(3-aryl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-5-aryl-1,2,4-triazines that have antibacterial activity and also inhibit inorganic pyrophosphatase. Bioorg Med Chem 22:406-18
Zhu, Tian; Cao, Shuyi; Su, Pin-Chih et al. (2013) Hit identification and optimization in virtual screening: practical recommendations based on a critical literature analysis. J Med Chem 56:6560-72

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