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Aspartyl-type peptidases are promising chemotherapeutic targets in protozoan parasites. In the present work, we identified an aspartyl peptidase activity from the soluble extract of  Leishmania amazonensis  promastigotes, which cleaved the fluorogenic peptide 7-methoxycoumarin-4-acetyl-Gly-Lys-Pro-Ile-Leu-Phe-Phe-Arg-Leu-Lys(DNP)-D-Arg-amide (cathepsin D substrate) under acidic pH conditions at 37°C, showing a  K  M  of 0.58 μM and  V  max  of 129.87 fluorescence arbitrary units/s mg protein. The leishmanial aspartyl peptidase activity was blocked by pepstatin A (IC 50  = 6.8 μM) and diazo-acetyl-norleucinemetilester (IC 50  = 10.2 μM), two classical aspartyl peptidase inhibitors. Subsequently, the effects of 6 asymmetric peptidomimetics, containing  L -tartaric acid core, were tested on both aspartyl peptidase and growth of  L .  amazonensis  promastigotes. The peptidomimetics named 88, 154 and 158 promoted a reduction of 50% on the leishmanial aspartyl peptidase activity at concentrations ranging from 40 to 85 μM, whereas the peptidomimetic 157 was by far the most effective, presenting IC 50  of 0.04 μM. Furthermore, the peptidomimetics 157 and 154 reduced the parasite proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, displaying IC 50  values of 33.7 and 44.5 μM, respectively. Collectively, the peptidomimetic 157 was the most efficient compound able to arrest both aspartyl peptidase activity and leishmanial proliferation, which raises excellent perspectives regarding its use against this human pathogenic protozoan.

acta parasitologica

Asymmetric peptidomimetics containing  L -tartaric acid core inhibit the aspartyl peptidase activity and growth of  Leishmania amazonensis  promastigotes