Development of fluoro-7-aminocarboxycoumarin-based mitochondrial pyruvate carrier inhibitors as anticancer agents

ABSTRACT Reprogrammed metabolism of cancer cells offers a unique target for pharmacological intervention. In the current study, a series of novel and potentially metabolically stable fluoro-substituted aminocarboxycoumarin derivatives are evaluated for their mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibition properties. Our studies indicate that the aminocarboxycoumarin template elicits potent MPC inhibitory characteristics, and specifically, structure activity relationship studies show that the N- methyl- N- benzyl structural template provides the optimal inhibitory capacity. Further respiratory experiments demonstrate that candidate compounds specifically inhibit pyruvate driven respiration without substantially affecting other metabolic fuels consistent with MPC inhibition. Further, computational homology and inhibitor docking studies illustrate that aminocarboxycoumarin binding characteristics are indicative of reversible covalent bonding with amino acids in the pyruvate binding domain. Epifluorescent microscopy experiments illustrated that FACC2 accumulates in the mitochondria to a similar extent as parent 7ACC2. Additionally, lead candidate aminocarboxycoumarin derivative D7 elicits cancer cell proliferation inhibition specifically in monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) expressing 4T1, consistent with its ability to accumulate intracellular lactate. In vivo tumor growth studies illustrate that D7 significantly reduces the tumor burden in two isogeneic murine cell lines 4T1 and 67nr. These studies provide novel MPC inhibitors with potential for anticancer applications.