Amide Tethered 4-Aminoquinoline-naphthalimide Hybrids: A New Class of Possible Dual Function Antiplasmodials
Shalini, Sumit Kumar, Mathieu Gendrot, Isabelle Fonta, Joël Mosnier, Nosipho Cele, Paul Awolade, Parvesh Singh, Bruno Pradines, Vipan Kumar
Abstract
A series of amide tethered 4-aminoquinoline-naphthalimide hybrids has been synthesized to assess their in vitro antiplasmodial potential against chloroquine-susceptible (3D7) and chloroquine-resistant (W2) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The most active and noncytotoxic compound had an IC50 value of 0.07 μM against W2 strain and was more active than standard antimalarial drugs, including chloroquine, desethylamodiaquine, and quinine, particularly for drug resistant malaria. The promising scaffold, when subjected to heme binding and molecular modeling studies, was identified as a possible potent inhibitor of hemozoin formation and P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (PfCRT), respectively, and, therefore, could act as a dual function antiplasmodial.