Browsing by Author "Vera, Gonzalo"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Novel 5-HT6R modulators as mTOR-dependent neuronal autophagy inductors
    (Nature Portafolio, 2025) Alcaino Vergara, Jose Miguel; Vera, Gonzalo; Almarza, Gonzalo; Lagos, Carlos F.; Terraza Inostroza, Claudio; Del Campo Sfeir, Andrea; Recabarren-Gajardo, Gonzalo
    Autophagy is a natural process in which the cell degrades substances through the lysosomal pathway. One of the most studied mechanisms for regulating autophagy is the mTOR signaling pathway. Recent research has shown that the 5-HT6 receptor is linked to the mTOR pathway and can affect cognition in various neurodevelopmental models. Therefore, developing 5-HT6 receptor antagonists could improve cognition by inducing autophagy through the inhibition of the mTOR pathway. Our study reports two in-house-designed 5-HT6R antagonists, PUC-10 and its indazole analogue PUC-55, that induce mTOR-dependent autophagy. PUC-10, an indole-based 5-HT6 receptor antagonist with high binding affinity (K-i = 14.6 nM) and antagonist potency (IC50 = 32 nM), demonstrated more than 90% at 25 mu M cellular viability and a high capacity to induce autophagy in the neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line. Similarly, its indazole analogue, PUC-55 (K-i = 37.5 nM), exhibited high cellular viability and potent autophagy-inducing activity. Both compounds induced overexpression of the 5-HT6 receptor after 24 h of stimulation, contrasting with the effects observed with Rapamycin (100 nM), a well-known mTOR inhibitor. Additionally, the signaling pathway was characterized, showing that both PUC-10 and PUC-55 induce autophagy by inhibiting the mTOR pathway, suggesting their potential therapeutic applications for neurological disorders.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Novel 5-HT6R modulators as mTOR-dependent neuronal autophagy inductors
    (2025) Alcaino Vergara, Jose Miguel; Vera, Gonzalo; Almarza, Gonzalo; Lagos, Carlos F.; Terraza Inostroza, Claudio; Del Campo Sfeir, Andrea; Recabarren-Gajardo, Gonzalo
    Autophagy is a natural process in which the cell degrades substances through the lysosomal pathway. One of the most studied mechanisms for regulating autophagy is the mTOR signaling pathway. Recent research has shown that the 5-HT6 receptor is linked to the mTOR pathway and can affect cognition in various neurodevelopmental models. Therefore, developing 5-HT6 receptor antagonists could improve cognition by inducing autophagy through the inhibition of the mTOR pathway. Our study reports two in-house-designed 5-HT6R antagonists, PUC-10 and its indazole analogue PUC-55, that induce mTOR-dependent autophagy. PUC-10, an indole-based 5-HT6 receptor antagonist with high binding affinity (K-i = 14.6 nM) and antagonist potency (IC50 = 32 nM), demonstrated more than 90% at 25 mu M cellular viability and a high capacity to induce autophagy in the neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line. Similarly, its indazole analogue, PUC-55 (K-i = 37.5 nM), exhibited high cellular viability and potent autophagy-inducing activity. Both compounds induced overexpression of the 5-HT6 receptor after 24 h of stimulation, contrasting with the effects observed with Rapamycin (100 nM), a well-known mTOR inhibitor. Additionally, the signaling pathway was characterized, showing that both PUC-10 and PUC-55 induce autophagy by inhibiting the mTOR pathway, suggesting their potential therapeutic applications for neurological disorders.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Novel N-Arylsulfonylindoles Targeted as Ligands of the 5-HT6 Receptor. Insights on the Influence of C-5 Substitution on Ligand Affinity
    (2021) Arrieta-Rodriguez, Loreto; Espinoza-Rosales, Daniela; Vera, Gonzalo; Cho, Young Hwa; Cabezas, David; Vasquez-Velasquez, David; Mella-Raipan, Jaime; Lagos, Carlos F.; Recabarren-Gajardo, Gonzalo
    A new series of twenty-two C-5 substituted N-arylsulfonylindoles was prepared with the aim of exploring the influence of C-5 substitution on 5-HT6 receptor affinity. Eleven compounds showed moderate to high affinity at the receptor (K-i = 58-403 nM), with compound 4d being identified as the most potent ligand. However, regarding C-5 substitution, both methoxy and fluorine were detrimental for receptor affinity compared to our previously published unsubstituted compounds. In order to shed light on these observations, we performed docking and molecular dynamics simulations with the most potent compounds of each series (4d and 4l) and PUC-10, a highly active ligand previously reported by our group. The comparison brings about deeper insight about the influence of the C-5 substitution on the binding mode of the ligands, suggesting that these replacements are detrimental to the affinity due to precluding a ligand from reaching deeper inside the binding site. Additionally, CoMFA/CoMSIA studies were performed to systematize the information of the main structural and physicochemical characteristics of the ligands, which are responsible for their biological activity. The CoMFA and CoMSIA models presented high values of q(2) (0.653; 0.692) and r(2) (0.879; 0.970), respectively. Although the biological activity of the ligands can be explained in terms of the steric and electronic properties, it depends mainly on the electronic nature.