Discovery of 6′-chloro-N-methyl-5’-(phenylsulfonamido)-[3,3′-bipyridine]-5-carboxamide (CHMFL-PI4K-127) as a novel Plasmodium falciparum PI(4)K inhibitor with potent antimalarial activity against both blood and liver stages of Plasmodium

Abstract

Starting from a bipyridine-sulfonamide scaffold, medicinal chemistry optimization leads to the discovery of a novel Plasmodium falciparum PI4K kinase (PfPI4K) inhibitor compound 15g (CHMFL-PI4K-127, IC50: 0.9 nM), which exhibits potent activity against 3D7 Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) (EC50: 25.1 nM). CHMFL-PI4K-127 displays high selectivity against PfPI4K over human lipid and protein kinase. In addition, it exhibits EC50 values of 23–47 nM against a panel of the drug-resistant strains of P. falciparum. In vivo, the inhibitor demonstrates the favorable pharmacokinetic properties in both rats and mice. Furthermore, oral administration of CHMFL-PI4K-127 exhibits the antimalaria efficacy in both blood stage (80 mg/kg) and liver stage (1 mg/kg) of Plasmodium in infected rodent model. The results suggest that CHMFL-PI4K-127 might be a new potential drug candidate for malaria.