1
Vacuolar ATPase (V-
ATPase) has been proposed as a
drug target in lytic
bone diseases. Studies of bafilomycin derivatives suggest that the key issue regarding the therapeutic usefulness of V-
ATPase inhibitors is selective inhibition of osteoclast V-
ATPase. Previous efforts to develop therapeutic inhibitors of osteoclast V-
ATPase have been frustrated by a lack of synthetically tractable and biologically selective leads. Therefore, we tried to find novel potent and specific V-
ATPase inhibitors, which have new structural features and inhibition selectivity, from random screening using osteoclast microsomes. Finally, a novel V-
ATPase inhibitor,
FR167356, was obtained through chemical modification of a parental hit compound. 2
FR167356 inhibited not only H+ transport activity of osteoclast V-
ATPase but also H+ extrusion from cytoplasm of osteoclasts, which depends on the V-
ATPase activity. As expected,
FR167356 remarkably inhibited
bone resorption in vitro. 3
FR167356 also showed inhibitory effects on other V-
ATPases, renal brush border V-
ATPase, macrophage microsome V-
ATPase and lysosomal V-
ATPase. However,
FR167356 was approximately seven-fold less potent in inhibiting lysosomal V-
ATPase compared to osteoclast V-
ATPase. Moreover,
LDL metabolism in cells, which depends on acidification of lysosome, was blocked merely at higher concentration than
bone resorption, suggesting that
FR167356 inhibits V-
ATPase of osteoclast ruffled border membrane still more selectively than lysosome at the cellular level. 4 These results from the experiments seem to indicate that osteoclast V-
ATPase may be different from lysosomal V-
ATPase in respect of their structure. 5
FR167356 had a novel chemical structural feature as well as inhibitory characteristics distinctly different from any previously known V-
ATPase inhibitor family. Therefore,
FR167356 is thought to be a useful tool for estimating the essential characteristics of V-
ATPase inhibitors for
drug development.