Development of novel benzomidazotriazine derivatives for PET imaging of phosphodiesterase 2A (PDE2A)

Ziel: Cyclic nucleotide phoshodiesterases (PDEs) are enzymes that hydrolyze cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP. These ubiquitous second messengers are involved in important cellular processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, migration, survival, and apoptosis. Accordingly PDEs are regarded as therapeutic targets to alter these processes. The expression of PDE2A was found to be related to a variety of tumors (1). Our aim was to synthesis novel PDE2A inhibitors based on the benzoimidazotriazine (BIT) moiety that might be prospective as a lead compound for the development of an F-18 labeled ligand for PDE2A imaging with PET.

Methodik: Three BIT derivatives (BIT1, BIT2, BIT3) were prepared (in 7-10 steps) by introducing different moieties to the C-1 and C-8 position of a BIT intermediate, using two-step Suzuki coupling and bromination. The derivatives were characterized by NMR, MS, and HPLC. Thereafter, the inhibitory potential of the three new compounds towards PDE2A and other PDE subtypes was estimated. Thereafter other derivatives were synthesized using a similar strategy. For radiolabeling, the nitro precursor of BIT1 was prepared employing a four-step synthesis, starting from Miyaura-Borylation instead of Suzuki coupling reaction.

Ergebnisse: BIT derivatives were successfully prepared in 6-8 % overall yield. The affinity and selectivity of BIT1 (82.9 % inhibition of PDE2A3 at 10 nM) was much higher than that of BIT2 and BIT3 (8.52 % and 13.2 % inhibition, respectively). Furthermore, BIT1 provided a promising IC50 of 3.33 nM. The precursor nitro-BIT1 was successfully obtained and is expected to be suitable for one-step radiofluorination via aromatic nucleophilic substitution.

Schlussfolgerungen: It is suggested that BIT1 if radiolabeled with the PET radionuclide F-18 using nitro-BIT1 precursor via aromatic nucleophilic substitution could be a promising PDE2A imaging agent.

Literatur:

(1) S. Schröder et al. Molecules 2016, 21, 650.