Alkyl-substituted polyaminohydroxamic acids: A novel class of targeted histone deacetylase inhibitors

The reversible acetylation of histones is critical for regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. The histone deacetylase inhibitors trichostatin (TSA, 1), MS-275 (2) and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA, 3) arrest growth in transformed cells and in human tumor xenografts. However, 1-3 suffer from lack of specificity among the various HDAC isoforms, prompting us to design and synthesize polyaminohydroxamic acid (PAHA) derivatives 6-21. We felt that PAHAs would be selectively directed to chromatin and associated histones by the positively charged polyamine side chain. At 1 μM, compounds 12, 15 and 20 inhibited HDAC by 74.86, 59.99 and 73.85%, respectively. Although 20 was a less potent HDAC inhibitor than 1, it was more potent than 2, more effective as an initiator of histone hyperacetylation, and significantly more effective than 2 at re-expressing p21^Waf1 in ML-1 leukemia cells. On the basis of these results, PAHAs 6-21 represent an important new chemical class of HDAC inhibitors.