Discovery of novel harmine derivatives as GSK-3/DYRK1A dual inhibitors for Alzheimer's disease treatment

Multitarget-directed ligands (MTDLs) have recently attracted significant interest due to their superior effectiveness in multifactorial Alzheimer's disease (AD). Combined inhibition of two important AD targets, glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3 beta) and dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A), may be a breakthrough in the treatment of AD. Based on our previous work, we have designed and synthesized a series of novel harmine derivatives, investigated their inhibition of GSK-3 beta and DYRK1A, and evaluated a variety of biological activities. The results of the experiments showed that most of these compounds exhibited good activity against GSK-3 beta and DYRK1A in vitro. ZLQH-5 was selected as the best compound due to the most potent inhibitory effect against GSK-3 beta and DYRK1A. Molecular docking studies demonstrated that ZLQH-5 could form stable interactions with the ATP binding pocket of GSK-3 beta and DYRK1A. In addition, ZLQH-5 showed low cytotoxicity against SH-SY5Y and HL-7702, good blood-brain barrier permeability, and favorable pharmacokinetic properties. More importantly, ZLQH-5 also attenuated the tau hyperphosphorylation in the okadaic acid SH-SY5Y cell model. These results indicated that ZLQH-5 could be a promising dual-target drug candidate for the treatment of AD.