(1-aryloxy-2-hydroxypropyl)-phenylpiperazine derivatives suppress Candida albicans virulence by interfering with morphological transition

Clinical treatment of Candida albicans infections has become more difficult due to the limited development of antifungal agents and the rapid emergence of drug resistance. In this study, we demonstrate the synthesis of a series of piperazine derivatives and the evaluation of their inhibitory activit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhao, Shuo, Huang, Jun-Jun, Sun, Xiuyun, Huang, Xiaorong, Fu, Shuna, Yang, Liang, Liu, Xue-Wei, He, Fei, Deng, Yinyue
Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103490
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47335
Description
Summary:Clinical treatment of Candida albicans infections has become more difficult due to the limited development of antifungal agents and the rapid emergence of drug resistance. In this study, we demonstrate the synthesis of a series of piperazine derivatives and the evaluation of their inhibitory activity against C. albicans virulence. Thirty‐four (1‐aryloxy‐2‐hydroxypropyl)‐phenylpiperazine derivatives, including 25 new compounds, were synthesized and assessed for their efficacy against the physiology and pathogenesis of C. albicans. Several compounds strongly inhibited the morphological transition and virulence of C. albicans cells, although they did not influence the growth rate of the fungal pathogen. A leading novel compound, (1‐(4‐ethoxyphenyl)‐4‐(1‐biphenylol‐2‐hydroxypropyl)‐piperazine), significantly attenuated C. albicans virulence by interfering with the process of hyphal development, but it showed no cytotoxicity against human cells at a micromolar level. These findings suggest that (1‐aryloxy‐2‐hydroxypropyl)‐phenylpiperazine derivatives could potentially be developed as novel therapeutic agents for the clinical treatment of C. albicans infections by interfering with morphological transition and virulence.