The search for a common structural moiety among selected pharmacological correctors of the mutant CFTR chloride channel.

Abstract

The F508del mutation impairs the trafficking of CFTR from endoplasmic reticulum to plasma membrane and is responsible of a severe form of cystic fibrosis. Trafficking can be improved by small organic molecules called 'correctors'. By different synthetic ways, we prepared 4-chloroanisole and 2-(4-chloroanisol-2-yl)aminothiazole derivatives. Such compounds were ineffective as correctors but we could find a sign of activity in an intermediate. In the meantime, we found a common pharmacophoric moiety present in four known correctors. Following this structural indication, we synthesized a small set of new molecules endowed with a significant, even if not great, F508del-CFTR rescue activity. The cited structural feature seems interesting in the search of new correctors. To corroborate this observation, later on we found a new pyrazine derivative (Novartis) endowed with a potent activity as corrector and having the cited common design.