New bis(2-aminoimidazoline) and bisguanidine DNA minor groove binders with potent in vivo antitrypanosomal and antiplasmodial activity

A series of 75 guanidine and 2-aminoimidazoline analogue molecules were assayed in vitro against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense STIB900 and Plasmodium falciparum K1. The dicationic diphenyl compounds exhibited the best activities with IC50 values against T. b. rhodesiense and P. falciparum in the nanomolar range. Five compounds (7b, 9a, 9b, 10b, and 14b) cured 100% of treated mice upon ip administration at 20 mg/kg in the difficult to cure T. b. rhodesiense STIB900 mouse model. Overall, the compounds that bear the 2-aminoimidazoline cations benefit from better safety profiles than the guanidine counterparts. The observation of a correlation between DNA binding affinity at AT sites and trypanocidal activity for three series of compounds supported the view of a mechanism of antitrypanosomal action due in part to the formation of a DNA complex. No correlation between antiplasmodial activity and in vitro inhibition of ferriprotoporphyrin IX biomineralisation was observed, suggesting that additional mechanism of action is likely to be involved.