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  • Exploring the modulatory in...
    Mbaba, Mziyanda; Golding, Taryn M.; Omondi, Reinner O.; Mohunlal, Roxanne; Egan, Timothy J.; Reader, Janette; Birkholtz, Lyn-Marie; Smith, Gregory S.

    European journal of medicinal chemistry, 05/2024, Letnik: 271
    Journal Article

    Amodiaquine (AQ) is a potent antimalarial drug used in combination with artesunate as part of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) for malarial treatment. Due to the rising emergence of resistant malaria parasites, some of which have been reported for ACT, the usefulness of AQ as an efficacious therapeutic drug is threatened. Employing the organometallic hybridisation approach, which has been shown to restore the antimalarial activity of chloroquine in the form of an organometallic hybrid clinical candidate ferroquine (FQ), the present study utilises this strategy to modulate the biological performance of AQ by incorporating ferrocene. Presently, we have conceptualised ferrocenyl AQ derivatives and have developed facile, practical routes for their synthesis. A tailored library of AQ derivatives was assembled and their antimalarial activity evaluated against chemosensitive (NF54) and multidrug-resistant (K1) strains of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The compounds generally showed enhanced or comparable activities to those of the reference clinical drugs chloroquine and AQ, against both strains, with higher selectivity for the sensitive phenotype, mostly in the double-digit nanomolar IC50 range. Moreover, representative compounds from this series show the potential to block malaria transmission by inhibiting the growth of stage II/III and V gametocytes in vitro. Preliminary mechanistic insights also revealed hemozoin inhibition as a potential mode of action. Display omitted •Ferrocenyl derivatives of the clinical antimalarial drug, amodiaquine, have been prepared.•The lead compounds show enhanced/comparable nanomolar activity to both chloroquine and amodiaquine.•The lead compounds inhibit growth of stage II/III gametocytes.•Hemozoin inhibition is revealed as a potential mode of action.