Structural characterization of CYP51 from Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma brucei bound to the antifungal drugs posaconazole and fluconazole.
BACKGROUND
Chagas Disease is the leading cause of heart failure in Latin America. Current drug therapy is limited by issues of both efficacy and severe side effects. Trypansoma cruzi, the protozoan agent of Chagas Disease, is closely related to two other major global pathogens, Leishmania spp., responsible for leishmaniasis, and Trypansoma brucei, the causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness. Both T. cruzi and Leishmania parasites have an essential requirement for ergosterol, and are thus vulnerable to inhibitors of sterol 14alpha-demethylase (CYP51), which catalyzes the conversion of lanosterol to ergosterol. Clinically employed anti-fungal azoles inhibit ergosterol biosynthesis in fungi, and specific azoles are also effective against both Trypanosoma and Leishmania parasites. However, modification of azoles to enhance efficacy and circumvent potential drug resistance has been problematic for both parasitic and fungal infections due to the lack of structural insights into drug binding.


RESULTS
We have determined the crystal structures for CYP51 from T. cruzi (resolutions of 2.35 A and 2.27 A), and from the related pathogen T. brucei (resolutions of 2.7 A and 2.6 A), co-crystallized with the antifungal drugs fluconazole and posaconazole. Remarkably, both drugs adopt multiple conformations when binding the target. The fluconazole 2,4-difluorophenyl ring flips 180 degrees depending on the H-bonding interactions with the BC-loop. The terminus of the long functional tail group of posaconazole is bound loosely in the mouth of the hydrophobic substrate binding tunnel, suggesting that the major contribution of the tail to drug efficacy is for pharmacokinetics rather than in interactions with the target.


CONCLUSIONS
The structures provide new insights into binding of azoles to CYP51 and mechanisms of potential drug resistance. Our studies define in structural detail the CYP51 therapeutic target in T. cruzi, and offer a starting point for rationally designed anti-Chagasic drugs with improved efficacy and reduced toxicity.
Chen
Chiung-Kuang
CK
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
Leung
Siegfried S F
SS
Guilbert
Christophe
C
Jacobson
Matthew P
MP
McKerrow
James H
JH
Podust
Larissa M
LM
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D015725:Fluconazole / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014230:Triazoles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000737:chemistry*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000737:chemistry*
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D014230:Triazoles; C101425:posaconazole; D015725:Fluconazole; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System
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