The control of malaria has been complicated by increased resistance of the malaria parasite to existing antimalarials such as chloroquine (CQ). Herein, we report the ability of NGP1-01, the prototype pentacycloundecylamine (PCU), to reverse CQ resistance (>50%) and act as a chemosensitizer. Based on this finding we set out to synthesize a small series of novel agents comprising of a PCU moiety as the reversal agent conjugated to a CQ-like aminoquinoline (AM) molecule and evaluate the potential of these PCU-AM derivatives as reversed CQ agents. PCU-AM derivatives 1-3 showed anti-plasmodial IC50 values in the ranges of 3.74-17.6 nM and 27.6-253.5 nM against CQ-sensitive (D10) and CQ-resistant strains (Dd2) of Plasmodium falciparum, respectively. Compound 1 presented with the best antiplasmodial activity at low nM concentrations against both strains and was found to be 5 fold more active against the resistant strain than CQ. Compound 1 can be considered as a lead compound to develop reversed CQ agents with improved pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties.
Keywords: Chloroquine; Malaria; Pentacycloundecylamines; Resistance reversal; Reversed CQ agents.
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