Inhibition of human histone deacetylases (HDACs) has emerged as a novel concept in the chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer. Two chemical entities, SAHA (ZOLINZA, Merck) and romidepsin (Istodax, Celgene) have been recently approved by the FDA as first-in-class drugs against cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Clinical use of these drugs revealed several side effects including gastro-intestinal symptoms, fatigue, thrombocytopenia, thrombosis. Romidepsin is associated with an yet unresolved cardiotoxicity issue. A general hypothesis for the diminishment of unwanted adverse effects and an improved therapeutical window suggests the development of more isotype selective inhibitors. In this study the first time HDAC inhibitors with perfluorinated spacers between the zinc chelating moiety and the aromatic capping group were synthesized and tested against representatives of HDAC classes I, IIa and IIb. Competitive binding assays and a combined approach by using blind docking and molecular dynamics support binding of the perfluorinated analogs of SAHA to the active site of the HDAC-like amidohydrolase from Bordetella/Alcaligenes and presumably also to human HDACs. In contrast to the alkyl spacer of SAHA and derivatives, the perfluorinated alkyl spacer seems to contribute to or facilitate the induction of selectivity for class II, particularly class IIa, HDACs even though the overall potency of the perfluorinated SAHA analogs in this study against human HDACs remained still rather moderate in the micromolar range.
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