Identification and characterization of novel inhibitors of mPTPB, an essential virulent phosphatase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Chen L, Zhou B, Zhang S, Wu L, Wang Y, Franzblau SG, Zhang ZY.
Mycobacterium protein tyrosine phosphatase B (mPTPB) is an essential virulence factor required for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) survival in host macrophages. Consequently, mPTPB represents an exciting new target with a completely novel mechanism of action. We screened a library of 7,500 compounds against mPTPB and identified several 2-oxo-1,2-dihydrobenzo[cd]indole-6-sulfonamide and piperazinyl-thiophenyl-ethyl-oxalamide derivatives as two distinct classes of mPTPB inhibitors. We showed that both classes of inhibitors are capable of blocking the mPTPB-mediated ERK1/2 inactivation. We further demonstrated that both classes of mPTPB inhibitors are effective in inhibiting the growth of Mtb in macrophages. Thus, improvement of the lead compounds may produce a novel class of anti-TB agents.