Elsevier, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, (66), p. 258-268
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2013.05.050
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A novel class of low molecular weight ligands of αvβ3 and α5β1 integrins, that possess a dehydro-β-amino acid as conformationally constrained core, linked to the pharmacophoric moieties mimicking the RGD recognition sequence, have been synthesized through a very simple protocol. Cell adhesion assays and integrin-mediated signaling activation experiments suggested a good affinity of these compounds toward both integrin receptors. Moreover, further elongation with two glycine units allowed to obtain an excellent dual inhibitor. Structural models for αvβ3 integrin-ligand binding confirmed that the dehydro-β-amino derivatives are able to act as an electrostatic clamp by establishing several stabilizing interactions with the receptor.