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The Search for Human Alpha‐Amylase Inhibitors as Therapeutics for Diabetes and Obesity
Author(s) -
Brayer Gary D.,
Williams Leslie K.,
Tarling Chris A.,
Woods Kate,
Li Chunmin,
Zhang Ran,
Mahpour AmirAli,
Andersen Raymond J.,
Withers Stephen G.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.681.4
Subject(s) - diabetes mellitus , postprandial , medicine , enzyme , drug discovery , obesity , disease , alpha amylase , pharmacology , bioinformatics , chemistry , biochemistry , endocrinology , biology , amylase
Diabetes and obesity lead to a significantly reduced quality of life, with an increased risk of serious complications including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, kidney failure and nerve damage. Human pancreatic alpha‐amylase (HPA) provides a unique opportunity for the development of potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of these conditions. This enzyme plays a vital role in the breakdown of starch in the diet, and its activity has been correlated to postprandial blood glucose levels, the control of which is essential for maintaining quality of life for diabetic patients. Nonetheless, the discovery of specific high affinity inhibitors for HPA has proven elusive and the currently available therapies that target this enzyme cause many deleterious side effects due to their activity on a wide range of glycosidases. In an attempt to identify new inhibitors of HPA, we have screened over 80,000 pure chemicals and crude biological extracts. This has resulted in the exciting discovery of montbretin A, a glycosylated acyl flavonol that acts as a competitive HPA inhibitor with a K i of 8.1 nM. Structural characterization of the binding mode of fragments of the montbretin A molecule have been undertaken and a model of montbretin A binding proposed. This work is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.