Alzheimer's disease, the most common amyloid-associated disorder, accounts for the majority of the dementia diagnosed after the age of 60. The cleavage of the β-amyloid precursor protein is initiated by β-secretase (BACE-1), a membrane-bound aspartic protease, which has emerged as an important but difficult protein target. Here, an in silico screening approach consisting of fragment-based docking, ligand conformational search by a genetic algorithm, and evaluation of free energy of binding was used to identify low-molecular-weight inhibitors of BACE-1. More than 300,000 small molecules were docked and about 15,000 prioritized according to a linear interaction energy model with evaluation of solvation by continuum electrostatics. Eighty-eight compounds were tested in vitro, and 10 of them showed an IC50 value lower than 100 μM in a BACE-1 enzymatic assay. Interestingly, the 10 active compounds shared a triazine scaffold. Moreover, four of them were active in an assay with mammalian cells (EC50 < 20 μM), indicating that they are cell-permeable. Therefore, these triazine derivatives are very promising lead candidates for BACE-1 inhibition. The discoveries of this series and two other series of nonpeptidic BACE-1 inhibitors demonstrate the usefulness of our in silico high-throughput screening approach.
BT - Journal of the American Chemical Society C1 - 0077 DA - 2006 Apr 26 DO - 10.1021/ja0573108 IS - 16 J2 - J. Am. Chem. Soc. LA - eng M3 - Research Article N2 -Alzheimer's disease, the most common amyloid-associated disorder, accounts for the majority of the dementia diagnosed after the age of 60. The cleavage of the β-amyloid precursor protein is initiated by β-secretase (BACE-1), a membrane-bound aspartic protease, which has emerged as an important but difficult protein target. Here, an in silico screening approach consisting of fragment-based docking, ligand conformational search by a genetic algorithm, and evaluation of free energy of binding was used to identify low-molecular-weight inhibitors of BACE-1. More than 300,000 small molecules were docked and about 15,000 prioritized according to a linear interaction energy model with evaluation of solvation by continuum electrostatics. Eighty-eight compounds were tested in vitro, and 10 of them showed an IC50 value lower than 100 μM in a BACE-1 enzymatic assay. Interestingly, the 10 active compounds shared a triazine scaffold. Moreover, four of them were active in an assay with mammalian cells (EC50 < 20 μM), indicating that they are cell-permeable. Therefore, these triazine derivatives are very promising lead candidates for BACE-1 inhibition. The discoveries of this series and two other series of nonpeptidic BACE-1 inhibitors demonstrate the usefulness of our in silico high-throughput screening approach.
PY - 2006 SP - 5436 EP - 5443 T2 - Journal of the American Chemical Society TI - In silico discovery of beta-secretase inhibitors VL - 128 SN - 0002-7863 ER -