Ester-prodrugs of ethambutol control its antibacterial activity and provide rapid screening for mycobacterial hydrolase activity.

Basic Information

ID: ALA5252543

Journal: Bioorg Med Chem Lett

Title: Ester-prodrugs of ethambutol control its antibacterial activity and provide rapid screening for mycobacterial hydrolase activity.

Authors: Larsen EM, Stephens DC, Clarke NH, Johnson RJ.

Abstract: M. tuberculosis contains an unusually high number of serine hydrolases by proteome percentage compared to other common bacteria or humans. This letter describes a method to probe the global substrate specificity of mycobacterial serine hydrolases with ester-protected prodrugs of ethambutol, a first-line antibiotic treatment for TB. These compounds were synthesized directly from ethambutol using a selective o-acylation to yield products in high yield and purity with minimal workup. A library of derivatives was screened against M. smegmatis, a non-infectious model for M. tuberculosis, which displayed significantly lowered biological activity compared to ethambutol. Incubation with a general serine hydrolase reactivated each derivative to near-ethambutol levels, demonstrating that esterification of ethambutol should provide a simple screen for mycobacterial hydrolase activity.

CiteXplore: 28882482

DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2017.08.057

Patent ID: