• Stefano Ponzano, Fabio Bertozzi, Luisa Mengatto, Mauro Dionisi, Andrea Armirotti, Elisa Romeo, Anna Berteotti, Claudio Fiorelli, Glauco Tarozzo, Angelo Reggiani, Andrea Duranti, Giorgio Tarzia, Marco Mor, Andrea Cavalli, Daniele Piomelli, and Tiziano Bandiera.
• Drug Discovery and Development, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia , Via Morego 30, I-16163 Genova, Italy.
• J. Med. Chem. 2013 Sep 12;56(17):6917-34.

AbstractN-Acylethanolamine acid amidase (NAAA) is a lysosomal cysteine hydrolase involved in the degradation of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acid ethanolamides (FAEs), a family of endogenous lipid agonists of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α, which include oleoylethanolamide (OEA) and palmitoylethanolamide (PEA). The β-lactone derivatives (S)-N-(2-oxo-3-oxetanyl)-3-phenylpropionamide (2) and (S)-N-(2-oxo-3-oxetanyl)-biphenyl-4-carboxamide (3) inhibit NAAA, prevent FAE hydrolysis in activated inflammatory cells, and reduce tissue reactions to pro-inflammatory stimuli. Recently, our group disclosed ARN077 (4), a potent NAAA inhibitor that is active in vivo by topical administration in rodent models of hyperalgesia and allodynia. In the present study, we investigated the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of threonine-derived β-lactone analogues of compound 4. The main results of this work were an enhancement of the inhibitory potency of β-lactone carbamate derivatives for NAAA and the identification of (4-phenylphenyl)-methyl-N-[(2S,3R)-2-methyl-4-oxo-oxetan-3-yl]carbamate (14q) as the first single-digit nanomolar inhibitor of intracellular NAAA activity (IC50 = 7 nM on both rat NAAA and human NAAA).

18 keywords...

hide…