@article{MachinPiontekTodheetal.2022,
  author    = {Machin, Laura and Piontek, Martin and Todhe, Sara and Staniek, Katrin and Monzote, Lianet and Fudickar, Werner and Linker, Torsten and Gille, Lars},
  title     = {Antileishmanial anthracene endoperoxides: efficacy in vitro, mechanisms and structure-activity relationships},
  series = {Molecules : a journal of synthetic chemistry and natural product chemistry},
  volume    = {27},
  journal   = {Molecules : a journal of synthetic chemistry and natural product chemistry},
  number    = {20},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  issn      = {1420-3049},
  doi       = {10.3390/molecules27206846},
  pages     = {22},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by protozoal Leishmania parasites. Previous studies have shown that endoperoxides (EP) can selectively kill Leishmania in host cells. Therefore, we studied in this work a set of new anthracene-derived EP (AcEP) together with their non-endoperoxidic analogs in model systems of Leishmania tarentolae promastigotes (LtP) and J774 macrophages for their antileishmanial activity and selectivity. The mechanism of effective compounds was explored by studying their reaction with iron (II) in chemical systems and in Leishmania. The correlation of structural parameters with activity demonstrated that in this compound set, active compounds had a LogP(OW) larger than 3.5 and a polar surface area smaller than 100 angstrom(2). The most effective compounds (IC50 in LtP < 2 mu M) with the highest selectivity (SI > 30) were pyridyl-/tert-butyl-substituted AcEP. Interestingly, also their analogs demonstrated activity and selectivity. In mechanistic studies, it was shown that EP were activated by iron in chemical systems and in LtP due to their EP group. However, the molecular structure beyond the EP group significantly contributed to their differential mitochondrial inhibition in Leishmania. The identified compound pairs are a good starting point for subsequent experiments in pathogenic Leishmania in vitro and in animal models.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FudickarRoderListeketal.2021,
  author    = {Fudickar, Werner and Roder, Phillip and Listek, Martin and Hanack, Katja and Linker, Torsten},
  title     = {Pyridinium alkynylanthracenes as sensitizers for photodynamic therapy},
  series = {Photochemistry and photobiology},
  volume    = {98},
  journal   = {Photochemistry and photobiology},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {0031-8655},
  doi       = {10.1111/php.13554},
  pages     = {193 -- 201},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a mild but effective method to treat certain types of cancer upon irradiation with visible light. Here, three isomeric methylpyridinium alkynylanthracenes 1op were evaluated as sensitizers for PDT. Upon irradiation with blue or green light, all three compounds show the ability to initiate strand breaks of plasmid DNA. The mayor species responsible for cleavage is singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) as confirmed by scavenging reagents. Only isomers 1m and 1p can be incorporated into HeLa cells, whereas isomer 1o cannot permeate through the membrane. While isomer 1m targets the cell nucleus, isomer 1p assembles in the cellular cytoplasm and impacts the cellular integrity. This is in accordance with a moderate toxicity of 1p in the dark, whereas 1m exhibits no dark toxicity. Both isomers are suitable as PDT reagents, with a CC50 of 3 mu m and 75 nm, for 1p and 1m, respectively. Thus, derivative 1m, which can be easily synthesized, becomes an interesting candidate for cancer therapy.},
  language  = {en}
}