Virtual and In Vitro Screens Reveal a Potential Pharmacophore that Avoids the Fibrillization of Aβ1-42

PLoS One. 2015 Jul 14;10(7):e0130263. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130263. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Among the multiple factors that induce Alzheimer's disease, aggregation of the amyloid β peptide (Aβ) is considered the most important due to the ability of the 42-amino acid Aβ peptides (Aβ1-42) to form oligomers and fibrils, which constitute Aβ pathological aggregates. For this reason, the development of inhibitors of Aβ1-42 pathological aggregation represents a field of research interest. Several Aβ1-42 fibrillization inhibitors possess tertiary amine and aromatic moieties. In the present study, we selected 26 compounds containing tertiary amine and aromatic moieties with or without substituents and performed theoretical studies that allowed us to select four compounds according to their free energy values for Aβ1-42 in α-helix (Aβ-α), random coil (Aβ-RC) and β-sheet (Aβ-β) conformations. Docking studies revealed that compound 5 had a higher affinity for Aβ-α and Aβ-RC than the other compounds. In vitro, this compound was able to abolish Thioflavin T fluorescence and favored an RC conformation of Aβ1-42 in circular dichroism studies, resulting in the formation of amorphous aggregates as shown by atomic force microscopy. The results obtained from quantum studies allowed us to identify a possible pharmacophore that can be used to design Aβ1-42 aggregation inhibitors. In conclusion, compounds with higher affinity for Aβ-α and Aβ-RC prevented the formation of oligomeric species.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amines / chemistry
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Humans
  • Ligands
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry*
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Protein Multimerization / drug effects*
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Small Molecule Libraries / chemistry
  • Small Molecule Libraries / metabolism
  • Small Molecule Libraries / pharmacology*
  • Thermodynamics
  • User-Computer Interface

Substances

  • Amines
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Ligands
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Small Molecule Libraries
  • amyloid beta-protein (1-42)

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Distrito Federal/1276/2011 and 42/2012 JCB, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología 84119 MCRH and 132353 JCB, PIFI-SIPCOFAA-IPN, SIP20150944 and scholarships from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia to study PhD 356817 to HMR. The funders played no role in data collection and analysis, decision to publish and preparation of the manuscript.