Design, Synthesis, and Biological and Crystallographic Evaluation of Novel Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum Enoyl-ACP-reductase (PfFabI)
Belluti, F., Perozzo, R., Lauciello, L., Colizzi, F., Kostrewa, D., Bisi, A., Gobbi, S., Rampa, A., Bolognesi, M.L., Recanatini, M., Brun, R., Scapozza, L., Cavalli, A.(2013) J Med Chem 56: 7516-7526
- PubMed: 24063369 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jm400637m
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
4IGE, 4IGF - PubMed Abstract: 
Malaria, a disease of worldwide significance, is responsible for over one million deaths annually. The liver-stage of Plasmodium's life cycle is the first, obligatory, but clinically silent step in malaria infection. The P. falciparum type II fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (PfFAS-II) has been found to be essential for complete liver-stage development and has been regarded as a potential antimalarial target for the development of drugs for malaria prophylaxis and liver-stage eradication. In this paper, new coumarin-based triclosan analogues are reported and their biological profile is explored in terms of inhibitory potency against enzymes of the PfFAS-II pathway. Among the tested compounds, 7 and 8 showed the highest inhibitory potency against Pf enoyl-ACP-reductase (PfFabI), followed by 15 and 3. Finally, we determined the crystal structures of compounds 7 and 11 in complex with PfFabI to identify their mode of binding and to confirm outcomes of docking simulations.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna , Via Belmeloro 6, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.