Conformational analysis and molecular design of anthranilic acid derivatives as partial agonists of the Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) with favorable predicted pharmacokinetic profiles

Abstract

We report here virtual design of new anthranilic acid derivatives (AAD) identified as potent partial Farnesoid X recep-tor (FXR) agonists with favorable predicted pharmacokinetic profiles. By in situ modification of the crystal structure (PDB ID: 3OLF) of FXR complex with a benzimidazole-based partial agonistic ligand, 3D models of 17 FXR:AADx complexes with known observed activity (EC50exp) were prepared to establish a quantitative structure–activity (QSAR) model and linear correla-tion between relative Gibbs free energy (GFE) of receptor-ligand complex formation (Gcom) and EC50exp: pEC50exp = -0,1146 Gcom + 8,175 (#); R2 = 0.98. A 3D QSAR pharmacophore model (PH4) derived from the QSAR directed our effort to design novel AAD analogs. During the design, an initial virtual library of 94501 AAD was focused down to 33134 drug-like compounds and finally, PH4 screened to identify 100 promising compounds. Theoretical EC50 (EC50pre) values of all analogs compounds were predicted by means of equation (#) and their pharmacokinetics (ADME) profiles were computed. More than 12 putative AADs display EC50pre 300 times superior to that of the reported most active training set inhibitor AAD1.