Carboxylesterase inhibitors

N. N. Sertkaya, J. W. Gorrod, In vitro Deacetylation Studies with Isomeric Acetamid-obiphenyls Using Selective Carboxylesterase Inhibitors , Anticancer Res. 1988, 8, 1345-1350. 

E. Heymann, K. Kirsch, H. Buech, W. Buzello, Inhibition of Phenacetin- and Acetani-hde-Induced Methemoglobinemia in the Rat by the Carboxylesterase Inhibitor Bis(/>-ni-trophenylphosphate) , Biochem. Pharmacol. 1969, 18, 801-811. 

Pancreatic cholesterol esterase (3.1.1.3.) aids in transporting cholesterol to the enterocyte. By utilizing a selective and potent cholesterol esterase inhibitor 6-chloro-3-(l-ethyl-2-cyclohexyl)-2-pyrone, the absorption of cholesterol in hamsters could be reduced [71]. Wadkins et al. [72] synthesized novel sulfonamide derivatives, which demonstrated greater than 200-fold selectivity for human intestinal carboxylesterase compared with the human liver carboxylesterase hCEl, and none of them was an inhibitor of human acetylcholinesterase or butyrylcholinester-ase. Maybe these agents can serve as lead compounds for the development of effective, selective carboxylesterase inhibitors for clinical applications. Also the potent P-gp inhibitor verapamil [73] as well as S,S,S-tributylphosphortrithionate (DEF) [74] may exhibit carboxylesterase inhibitory properties. Various other inhibitors of human esterases are listed in Table 5.6. 

Toxicity of organophosphates can be potentiated 15-20-fold in rats and mice by pretreatment with a metabolite of tri-O-cresylphosphate, CBDP (2-0-cresyl)-4H-l,3,2-benzodioxa-phosphorin-2-oxide), which is an irreversible inhibitor of CarbEs. In similar studies, tetraisopropylpyrophosphoramide (iso-OMPA), or mipafox, an organophosphate-irreversible inhibitor of CarbEs, potentiates three-to fivefold the toxicity of several OPs (soman, DFP, and methylparathion) and carbamates (carbofuran, aldicarb, propoxur, and carbaryl). Inhibition of CarbEs by CBDP, iso-OMPA, or mipafox pretreatment, particularly in plasma, liver, heart, brain, and skeletal muscles, is a major contributory factor in the potentiation of toxicity of organophosphates and carbamates. Thus, the toxicity of any drug, pesticide, or other type of agent that is normally detoxified by CarbEs, could be potentiated by pre-exposure to an organophosphorus or other carboxylesterase inhibitor. 

Pretreatment of rats with a carboxylesterase inhibitor enhances the respiratory irritation and lethality produced by the inhalation of ethyl acrylate. This and other observations suggest that the toxicity of ethyl acrylate becomes manifest when local detoxi-fication/defense mechanisms become overwhelmed. 

S.L., The use of carboxylesterase inhibitors to develop an improved rodent model of soman toxicity, Soc. Neurosci. Abstr., 16, 1114A, 1990. 

Buch H, Buzello W, He5mann E, Krisch, K. Inhibition of phenacetin- and acetanilide-induced methemoglobinemia in the rat by the carboxylesterase inhibitor bis-[p-nitrophenyl] phosphate. Biochem Pharmacol 1969 18 801-811. 

The enzyme responsible for the biotransformation of capecitabine to 5 -deoxy-5-fluorocytidine (a precursor to 5-fluorouracil) was evaluated using purified enzyme, cytosol, and microsomes. The purified CES cytosolic enzyme, inhibited by the carboxylesterase inhibitors bis-nitrophenyphosphate and diisopropylfluorophosphate, was identified as belonging to the subgroup CES lAl based on the result of the N-terminal amino acid sequence. 

In studies in human liver microsomes, nifedipine, clonazepam, methylprednisolone, omeprazole, and vinorelbine had significant effects on the metabolism of irinotecan. However, only the effect of vinorelbine occurred at a concentration considered clinically relevant. Similarly, of various potential carboxylesterase inhibitors, only physostigmine was considered sufficiently potent to possibly inhibit irinotecan activation. Further study is needed to assess the clinical relevance of these findings. 

First generation of topi inhibitors were developed as drugs from camptothecins, a family of compounds derived from wood and bark of the Chinese tree Camptotheca acuminata) [9, 10], Many of these are already in clinical use or clinical trials, including irinotecan, topotecan, exatecan, rubitecan, and lurtotecan. Irinotecan (CPT-11) is bioactivated in liver by carboxylesterase to the active metabolite SN-38, 1000-fold more active [11]. Irinotecan received in 1998 FDA approval for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer after failure of treatment with 5FU [12],... 

Amidases can be found in all kinds of organisms, including insects and plants [24], The distinct activities of these enzymes in different organisms can be exploited for the development of selective insecticides and herbicides that exhibit minimal toxicity for mammals. Thus, the low toxicity in mammals of the malathion derivative dimethoate (4.44) can be attributed to a specific metabolic route that transforms this compound into the nontoxic acid (4.45) [25-27]. However, there are cases in which toxicity is not species-selective. Indeed, in the preparation of these organophosphates, some contaminants that are inhibitors of mammalian carboxylesterase/am-idase may be present [28]. Sometimes the compound itself, and not simply one of its impurities, is toxic. For example, an insecticide such as phos-phamidon (4.46) cannot be detoxified by deamination since it is an amidase inhibitor [24],... 

For example, the hydrolysis of phenyl acetate (7.15) by carboxylesterase isozymes was investigated over a broad pH range, allowing many insights into their catalytic mechanisms [30] (see Chapt. 3). This substrate was also used together with various inhibitors to characterize esterases in human and rat tissues [31], Thus, the approximate values of Km (in pM) and Vmax (in pmol min 1 (g tissue)-1) in human tissues were 300 and 60 in liver micro-somes, 200 and 40 in liver cytosol, and 1500 and 250 in plasma, respective-... 

Natural (-)-cocaine (7.57, Fig. 7.8), which has the (2/ ,3S)-configuration, is a relatively poor substrate for hepatic carboxylesterases and plasma cholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.8), and also a potent competitive inhibitor of the latter enzyme [116][121], In contrast, the unnatural enantiomer, (+)-(2S,3/ )-cocaine, is a good substrate for carboxylesterases and cholinesterase. Because hydrolysis is a route of detoxification for cocaine and its stereoisomers, such metabolic differences have a major import on their monooxygenase-catalyzed toxification, a reaction of particular effectiveness for (-)-cocaine. 

The transesterification of cocaine to cocaethylene is an enzymatic reaction catalyzed by microsomal carboxylesterases and blocked by inhibitors of serine hydrolases [124][125], In Chapt. 3, we have discussed the mechanism of serine hydrolases, showing how a H20 molecule enters the catalytic cycle to hydrolyze the acylated serine residue in the active site of the enzyme. In the case of cocaine, the acyl group is the benzoylecgoninyl moiety (Fig. 7.9,d ), which undergoes esterification with ethanol according to Steps e and/ (Fig. 7.9). 

T. L. Huang, T. Shiotsuki, T. Uematsu, B. Borhan, Q. X. Li, B. D. Hammock, Structure-Activity Relationships for Substrates and Inhibitors of Mammalian Liver Microsomal Carboxylesterases , Pharm. Res. 1996,13, 1495- 1500. 

In vitro studies were also conducted to discover the enzymes responsible for bioactivation of benazepril. With different preparations and eserine as an inhibitor, the involvement of arylesterases (EC 3.1.1.2) and cholinesterases (EC 3.1.1.8) was ruled out, while that of carboxylesterases (EC 3.1.1.1) was... 

In contrast to the A-monosubstituted carbamates, the A,A-disubstituted analogues (8.124 and 8.125, R = R R"NCO R = Me or Et R" = Me, Et, i-Pr, etc.) proved very stable at pH 7.4 in both buffer and plasma, with less than 5% degradation in 4 d. In fact, these compounds were potent inhibitors of plasma cholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.8), with K values ranging from 600 to 3 nM. Although these carbamates were stable in plasma, they underwent rapid bioactivation in liver, as demonstrated with mouse and rat liver microsomes. For example, the A,A-dimethylcarbamate (8.124, R = Me2NCO) was bioactivated in rat liver microsomes with t1/2 of ca. 30 min. Two routes of bioactivation were postulated, namely direct carboxylesterase-catalyzed hydrolysis, and cytochrome P450 mediated A-dealkylation to a more labile A-monosubstituted carbamate. 

Byun, H.M., Choi, S.H., Laird, P.W., Trinh, B., Siddiqui, M.A., Marquez, V.E. and Yang, A.S. (2008) 2 -Deoxy-N4-[2-(4-nitrophenyl)ethoxycarbonyl]-5-azacytidine a novel inhibitor of DNA methyltransferase that requires activation by human carboxylesterase 1. Cancer Letters, 266, 238-248. 

This chapter will focus on Irinotecan because this is one of the most actively used agents in the clinic today (13,14). Irinotecan is converted by carboxylesterases to its more active metabolite, SN-38. In vitro, SN-38 is 250- to 1000-fold more potent than CPT-11 as an inhibitor of TOPO-1 activity (6). The enzymatic cleavage (hydrolysis) of the car-... 

Another example of this conversion of P=S found in pesticides to P = 0 is the oxidation of malathion in the atmosphere. Malathion itself is not a HAP and has relatively low acute mammalian toxicity because it is degraded by mammalian carboxylesterases. It is effective as a pesticide because in insects, it is activated to malaoxon, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. However, malathion itself typically contains impurities such as isomalathion whose mammalian toxicities are greater... 

Irinotecan, an antineoplastic-prodrug, is widely used for the treatment of colorectal, lung and other cancers, and is one of model pharmaceuticals for personalized medicine. The active metabolite, SN-38, is a topoisomerase I inhibitor generated by hydrolysis of irinotecan by carboxylesterases. SN-38 is subsequently glucuronidated... 

Irinotecan is a prodrug that is converted mainly in the liver by the carboxylesterase enzyme to the SN-38 metabolite, which is 1000-fold more potent as an inhibitor of topoisomerase I than the parent compound. In contrast to topotecan, irinotecan and SN-38 are mainly eliminated in bile and feces, and dose reduction is required in the setting of liver dysfunction. Irinotecan was originally approved as second-line monotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who had failed fluorouracil-based therapy. It is now approved as first-line therapy when used in combination with 5-FU and leucovorin. Myelosuppression and diarrhea are the two most common adverse events. There are two forms of diarrhea an early form that occurs within 24 hours after administration and is thought to be a cholinergic event effectively treated with atropine, and a late form that usually occurs 2-10 days after treatment. The late diarrhea can be severe, leading to significant electrolyte imbalance and dehydration in some cases. 

Malathion is an organophosphate cholinesterase inhibitor that is hydrolyzed and inactivated by plasma carboxylesterases much faster in humans than in insects, thereby providing a therapeutic advantage in treating pediculosis (see Chapter 7). Malathion is available as a 0.5% lotion (Ovide) that should be applied to the hair when dry 4-6 hours later, the hair is combed to remove nits and lice. 

Esterase activity is important in both the detoxication of organophosphates and the toxicity caused by them. Thus brain acetylcholinesterase is inhibited by organophosphates such as paraoxon and malaoxon, their oxidized metabolites (see above). This leads to toxic effects. Malathion, a widely used insecticide, is metabolized mostly by carboxylesterase in mammals, and this is a route of detoxication. However, an isomer, isomalathion, formed from malathion when solutions are inappropriately stored, is a potent inhibitor of the carboxylesterase. The consequence is that such contaminated malathion becomes highly toxic to humans because detoxication is inhibited and oxidation becomes important. This led to the poisoning of 2800 workers in Pakistan and the death of 5 (see chap. 5 for metabolism and chap. 7 for more details). 

The inhibition of the carboxylesterase that hydrolyzes malathion by organophospho-rus compounds, such as EPN is a further example of xenobiotic interaction resulting from irreversible inhibition. In this case the enzyme is phosphorylated by the inhibitor. 

Adam GC, Vanderwal CD, Sorensen EJ, Cravatt BF (2003) (—)-FR182877 is a potent and selective inhibitor of carboxylesterase-1. Angew Chem Int Ed 42 5480-5484... 

Susceptibility to carboxylesterase in human liver cell culture with cytidine deaminase inhibitor tetrahydrouridine (mmol/mg protein/h). 

The inhibition by other organophosphate compounds of the carboxylesterase which hydrolyzes malathion is a further example of xenobiotic interaction resulting from irreversible inhibition because, in this case, the enzyme is phosphorylated by the inhibitor. A second type of inhibition involving organophosphorus insecticides involves those containing the P=S moiety. During CYP activation to the esterase-inhibiting oxon, reactive sulfur is released that inhibits CYP isoforms by an irreversible interaction with the heme iron. As a result, these chemicals are inhibitors of the metabolism of other xenobiotics, such as carbaryl and fipronil, and are potent inhibitors of the metabolism of steroid hormones such as testosterone and estradiol. 

Based on the above discussion it was thought that the trifluoro-methyl ketones would be more polarized and thus create a great electrophilicity on the carbonyl carbon which facilitates -OH attack by the serine residue. Yet there is no carbon-oxygen bond to be cleaved In the ketone moiety, and therefore the enzyme-trifluoromethyl ketone transition state complex does not undergo catalytic conversion. The above rationale seems reasonable as trifluoromethyl ketones were found to be extraordinary selective and potent inhibitors of cholinesterases (56) of JHE from T. ni (57) and of meperidine carboxylesterases from mouse and human livers (58). Since JH homologs are alpha-beta unsaturated esters, a sulfide bond was placed beta to the carbonyl in hopes that it would mimic the 2,3-olefln of JHs and yield more powerful inhibitors (54). This empirical approach was extremely successful since it resulted in compounds that were extremely potent inhibitors of JHEs from different species (51,54,59). 

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