Exploring the Scope of Functionalized N-Acylneuraminic Acid β-Methyl Glycosides as Inhibitors of Neisseria meningitidis CMP-Sialic Acid Synthetase

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Chopra, Pradeep
Führing, Jana
Ng, Preston
Haselhorst, Thomas
Dyason, Jeffrey C
Rose, Faith J
Thomson, Robin J
Gerardy-Schahn, Rita
Grice, I Darren
Jennings, Michael P
Münster-Kühnel, Anja K
von Itzstein, Mark
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2025
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Cell surface sialylation is utilized by a number of pathogenic bacteria to evade the host immune system through molecular mimicry of host sialoglycoconjugates. Human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis serotype B (NmB) expresses both sialylated capsule and surface lipooligosaccharides as pivotal virulence factors. An essential enzyme in the sialylation pathway of NmB is CMP-sialic acid synthetase (CSS), which produces the activated nucleotide sugar necessary for sialic acid transfer. In this work, novel C-4, -5, -7, and -9 functionalized derivatives of neuraminic acid β-methyl glycoside (Neuβ2Me) were synthesized as candidate CSS inhibitors. A number of these were found to reduce the activity of NmB CSS in vitro. The highest inhibition of NmB CSS, in a mixed mode manner, was observed with a Neu5Acβ2Me C-9 serine carboxamide. Direct interaction with the enzyme was confirmed by Saturation Transfer Difference (STD) NMR. Supplementation of growth media with this compound reduced lipooligosaccharide (LOS) sialylation of living N. meningitidis, thus providing an interesting starting point for the development of specific NmB CSS inhibitors as an alternative treatment strategy to fight bacterial infections.

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Molecules

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30

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22

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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Medicinal and biomolecular chemistry

Organic chemistry

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Chopra, P; Führing, J; Ng, P; Haselhorst, T; Dyason, JC; Rose, FJ; Thomson, RJ; Gerardy-Schahn, R; Grice, ID; Jennings, MP; Münster-Kühnel, AK; von Itzstein, M, Exploring the Scope of Functionalized N-Acylneuraminic Acid β-Methyl Glycosides as Inhibitors of Neisseria meningitidis CMP-Sialic Acid Synthetase, Molecules, 30 (22), pp. 4329

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