Identification of novel monoamine oxidase B inhibitors by structure-based virtual screening

Parkinson’s disease is a severe debilitating neurodegenerative disorder. Recently, it was shown that the peroxisome proliferating-activator receptor-γ agonist pioglitazone protected mice from 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine neurotoxicity due to its ability to inhibit monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B). Docking studies were initiated to investigate pioglitazone’s interactions within the substrate cavity of MAO-B. Modeling studies indicated that the thiazolidinedione (TZD) moiety was a likely candidate for its specificity to MAO-B. To explore this potential novel MAO-B scaffold, we performed a structure-based virtual screen to identify additional MAO-B inhibitors. Our search identified eight novel compounds containing the TZD-moiety that allowed for a limited study to identify structural requirements for binding to MAO-B. Inhibition assays identified two TZDs (A6355 and L136662) which were found to inhibit recombinant human MAO-B with IC50 values of 82 and 195 nM, respectively.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide