β-Carboline as a Privileged Scaffold for Multitarget Strategies in Alzheimer's Disease Therapy

J Med Chem. 2021 Feb 11;64(3):1392-1422. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c01887. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

Abstract

The natural β-carboline alkaloids display similarities with neurotransmitters that can be favorably exploited to design bioactive and bioavailable drugs for Alzheimer's disease (AD) therapy. Several AD targets are currently and intensively being investigated, divided in different hypotheses: mainly the cholinergic, the amyloid β (Aβ), and the Tau hypotheses. To date, only symptomatic treatments are available involving acetylcholinesterase and NMDA inhibitors. On the basis of plethoric single-target structure-activity relationship studies, the β-carboline scaffold was identified as a powerful tool for fostering activity and molecular interactions with a wide range of AD-related targets. This knowledge can undoubtedly be used to design multitarget-directed ligands, a highly relevant strategy preferred in the context of multifactorial pathology with intricate etiology such as AD. In this review, we first individually discuss the AD targets of the β-carbolines, and then we focus on the multitarget strategies dedicated to the deliberate design of new efficient scaffolds.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy*
  • Animals
  • Carbolines / chemistry*
  • Drug Design
  • Humans
  • Neurotransmitter Agents / chemistry
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Carbolines
  • Neurotransmitter Agents