Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel dual inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase and β-secretase

Abstract

To explore novel effective drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a series of dual inhibitors of acetylcholineterase (AChE) and β-secretase (BACE-1) were designed based on the multi-target-directed ligands strategy. Among them, inhibitor 28 exhibited good dual potency in enzyme inhibitory potency assay (BACE-1: IC 50 = 0.567 μM; AChE: IC 50 = 1.83 μM), and also showed excellent inhibitory effects on Aβ production of APP transfected HEK293 cells (IC 50 = 98.7 nM) and mild protective effect against hydrogen peroxide (H 2O 2)-induced PC12 cell injury. Encouragingly, intracerebroventricular injection of 28 into amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice caused a 29% reduction of Aβ 1–40 production. Therefore, 28 was demonstrated as a good lead compound for the further study and more importantly, the strategy of AChE and BACE-1 dual inhibitors might be a promising direction for developing novel drugs for AD patients.