Novel chemo-enzymatic oligomers of cinnamic acids as direct and indirect inhibitors of coagulation proteinases

Thrombin and factor Xa, two important procoagulant enzymes, have been prime targets for regulation of clotting through the direct and indirect mechanism of inhibition. Our efforts on exploiting the indirect mechanism led us to study a carboxylic acid-based scaffold, which displayed major acceleration in the inhibition of these enzymes [J. Med. Chem.2005, 48, 1269, 5360]. This work advances the study to chemo-enzymatically prepared oligomers of 4-hydroxycinnamic acids, DHPs, which display interesting anticoagulant properties. Oligomers, ranging in size from tetramers to pentadecamers, were prepared through peroxidase-catalyzed oxidative coupling of caffeic, ferulic, and sinapic acids, and sulfated using triethylamine–sulfur trioxide complex. Chromatographic, spectroscopic, and elemental studies suggest that the DHPs are heterogeneous, polydisperse preparations composed of inter-monomer linkages similar to those found in natural lignins. Measurement of activated thromboplastin and prothrombin time indicates that both the sulfated and unsulfated derivatives of the DHPs display anticoagulant activity, which is dramatically higher than that of the reference polyacrylic acids. More interestingly, this activity approaches that of low-molecular-weight heparin with the sulfated derivative showing ∼2- to 3-fold greater potency than the unsulfated parent. Studies on the inhibition of factor Xa and thrombin indicate that the oligomers exert their anticoagulant effect through both direct and indirect inhibition mechanisms. This dual inhibition property of 4-hydroxycinnamic acid-based DHP oligomers is the first example in inhibitors of coagulation. This work puts forward a novel, non-heparin structure, which may be exploited for the design of potent, dual action inhibitors of coagulation through combinatorial virtual screening on a library of DHP oligomers.

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