Umeå University's logo

This thesis describes the synthesis and biological evaluation of highly substituted, ring-fused 2-pyridones. The utility of the bicyclic 2-pyridones to gain fundamental insights into the disease processes of bacterial infections and Alzheimer’s disease has been investigated.

The 2-pyridones have mainly been studied as a new class of anti-infective agents termed pilicides. The function of the pilicides has been explored using uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) as a prototype pathogen and urinary tract infection as a model disease. The pilicides target the infectious ability of UPEC by inhibiting key proteins (chaperones) in the so-called chaperone-usher pathway, thus preventing the assembly of bacterial surface organelles (pili/fimbriae).

Synthetic pathways to aminomethylate the 2-pyridones have been developed in order to increase their aqueous solubility while retaining biological activity. Also, the importance of a carboxylic acid has been demonstrated in studies with various carboxylate derivatives and by bioisosteric replacement. Moreover, synthetic procedures to extend the backbone of the rigid, dipeptide-mimicking 2-pyridones have been established. This rendered peptidomimetic building blocks and structures that alongside their potential use as pilicides are of more general interest in peptidomimetic-related research.

The potential pilicides have been screened for chaperone affinity using relaxation-edited ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. In addition, their ability to inhibit pilus biogenesis in E. coli has been demonstrated by assays of hemagglutination, biofilm formation and attachment to bladder cells, as well as with electron and atomic force microscopy. Moreover, it has been confirmed that pilicides regulate the expression of pili without affecting the biofunctional properties of the pilus rod. This was verified by measurements of individual P pili, on living bacteria, using force measuring optical tweezers. The pilicide binding site was investigated using NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography of a pilicide-chaperone complex. Based on the results obtained, a mechanism whereby the pilicides may inhibit pilus assembly was proposed, which was subsequently experimentally supported by surface plasmon resonance assays and genetic analysis.

Finally, based on the generic 2-pyridone scaffold, a new collection of substituted compounds has been synthesized and validated as inhibitors of Amyloid β (Aβ)-peptide aggregation, which has been suggested to be involved in Alzheimer’s disease.