Peptidyl hydroxamic acids as methionine aminopeptidase inhibitors

A new class of methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP) inhibitors, which contain an internal hydroxamate (N-acyl-N-alkylhydroxylamine) core as the metal-chelating group, has been designed, synthesized, and tested. The compounds exhibited reversible, competitive inhibition against Escherichia coli MetAP as well as human MetAP-l and MetAP-2. The most potent inhibitor had a K-i value of 2.5 muM and > 20-fold selectivity toward E. coli MAP. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.