Cited by 62Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative DiseasesEnzyme function and inhibitionComputational Drug Discovery Methods

Identification of Compounds for Butyrylcholinesterase Inhibition

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Li, Shuaizhang, Li, Andrew J., Travers, Jameson, Xu, Tuan, Sakamuru, Srilatha, Klumpp-Thomas, Carleen, Huang, Ruili, Xia, Menghang·2021·SLAS Discovery

Abstract

Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is a nonspecific cholinesterase enzyme that hydrolyzes choline-based esters. BChE plays a critical role in maintaining normal cholinergic function like acetylcholinesterase (AChE) through hydrolyzing acetylcholine (ACh). Selective BChE inhibition has been regarded as a viable therapeutic approach in Alzheimer's disease. As of now, a limited number of selective BChE inhibitors are available. To identify BChE inhibitors rapidly and efficiently, we have screened 8998 compounds from several annotated libraries against an enzyme-based BChE inhibition assay in a quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) format. From the primary screening, we identified a group of 125 compounds that were further confirmed to inhibit BChE activity, including previously reported BChE inhibitors (e.g., bambuterol and rivastigmine) and potential novel BChE inhibitors (e.g., pancuronium bromide and NNC 756), representing diverse structural classes. These BChE inhibitors were also tested for their selectivity by comparing their IC 50 values in BChE and AChE inhibition assays. The binding modes of these compounds were further studied using molecular docking analyses to identify the differences between the interactions of these BChE inhibitors within the active sites of AChE and BChE. Our qHTS approach allowed us to establish a robust and reliable process to screen large compound collections for potential BChE inhibitors.

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  • In advanced Alzheimer's disease, AChE levels can decline significantly while BChE levels may increase, suggesting a compensatory mechanism where BChE attempts to hydrolyze acetylcholine in the absence of sufficient AChE activity.

    “Research indicated that in patients with advanced AD, AChE levels can decline significantly while BChE levels may increase, suggesting a compensatory mechanism where BChE attempts to hydrolyze ACh in the absence of sufficient AChE activity [92].”

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  1. [29]Haas J. V. Eastwood B. J. Iversen P. W., et al. Minimum Significant Ratio—A Statistic to Assess Assay Variability. In Assay Guidance Manual; Markossian S. Sittampalam G. S. Grossman A., et al., Eds.; Eli Lilly & Company and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences: Bethesda, MD, 2004. 24260775

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Authors
Li, S., Li, A. J., Travers, J., Xu, T., Sakamuru, S., Klumpp-Thomas, C., Huang, R., & Xia, M.
Affiliations
National Institutes of Health (US)
Corresponding author
Xia, Menghang
Venue
SLAS Discovery
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-12
Volume
26
Issue
10
Pages
1355-1364
ISSN
2472-5552 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3178443879
Cited by
60
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 1
FWCI
5.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • SLAS DISCOVERY (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
national center for advancing translational sciences
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Enzyme function and inhibition
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computational Drug Discovery Methods
Keywords
butyrylcholinesterase, Alzheimer's disease, quantitative high-throughput screening, compound library screening, pancuronium, bambuterol, rivastigmine, molecular docking
MeSH terms
Acetylcholinesterase, Alzheimer Disease, Butyrylcholinesterase, Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Humans, Structure-Activity Relationship, Terbutaline, Catalytic Domain, Molecular Docking Simulation

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