Nowadays the discovery of effective antioxidant agents among low-molecular-weight organic molecules is a recent problem that requires new methodological approaches implementation, while it is also the society relevant task [1]. Both thiazole and pyridine scaffolds are of the highest priority in modern medicinal chemistry [2, 3]. Numerous reports concerning variety biological effects possessed by thiazolopyridine derivatives have been currently published including their discovery as potent antioxidant agents [4].
One of the antioxidant action mechanisms can be exerted through the inhibition enzymes’ activity which are responsible for reactive oxygen species (ROS) producing, thereby reducing oxidative stress. The objective of the precent study was to fulfil molecular docking studies of novel 3H-thiazolo[4,5-b]pyridine-2-one derivatives towards lipoxygenase (LOX) as one of ROS-producing enzymes. LOX-5 is the enzyme that catalyses the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids to form lipid hydroperoxides, which can lead to membrane damage and inflammation.
The objects of the precent research were three series of condensed 3H-thiazolo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives, synthesized at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University [5-7]: (a) the 1st series included N3 substituted derivatives containing phenyl, propanenitrile, propanoic acid and phenylpropanamide moieties as N3-substituents while they comprised hydroxyl group at C5 position; (b) the 2nd series comprised compounds incorporated substituted phenyl diazonium or alkyl substituents at C6 position of the core scaffold; (c) the 3rd series included derivatives incorporated chloroacetate, chlorobenzoate, benzyloxybenzoate, methoxyphenyl acrylate and substituted phenyltriazolecarboxylate moieties as the substituents at C5 position of the core scaffold (Fig. 1). The antioxidant activity evaluation of all tested compounds was reported as a spectrophotometric DPPH assay based on the ability of antioxidant drug candidates possess free radical scavenging potency. Compounds of all three series were found to exhibit moderate and low antioxidant effects.
Probing the action mechanism of 3H-thiazolo[4,5-b]pyridin-2-one derivatives as antioxidants was performed through molecular docking studies towards lipoxygenase. Docking studies, filtering and poses grouping according to the Estimated Affinity towards the biotarget were carried out using SeeSar13.1.0 software (BioSolveIT, Sankt Augustin, Germany) [8]. The crystal structures of lipoxygenase were downloaded from Protein Data Bank using the Protein Mode of the software. Two structures of LOX-5 were downloaded: PDB entry 3O8Y - a 2.39 Å resolution structure of LOX-5 without ligands; PDB entry 6N2W – a 2.71 Å resolution structure of LOX-5 with co-crystallized ligand NDGA (Masoprocol, 4-[(2r,3s)-3-[(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)methyl]-2-methylbutyl]benzene-1,2-diol).