Design, Synthesis, and Structure−Activity Relationship Exploration of 1-Substituted 4-Aroyl-3-hydroxy-5-phenyl-1H-pyrrol-2(5H)-one Analogues as Inhibitors of the Annexin A2−S100A10 Protein Interaction

S100 proteins are small adaptors that regulate the activity of partner proteins by virtue of direct protein interactions. Here, we describe the first small molecule blockers of the interaction between S100A10 and annexin A2. Molecular docking yielded candidate blockers that were screened for competition of the binding of an annexin A2 peptide to S100A10. Several inhibitory clusters were identified with some containing compounds with potency in the lower micromolar range. We chose 3-hydroxy-1-(2-hydroxypropyl)-5-(4-isopropylphenyl)-4-(4-methylbenzoyl)-1H-pyrrol-2(5H)-one (1a) as a starting point for structure-activity studies. These confirmed the hypothetical binding mode from the virtual screen for this series of molecules. Selected compounds disrupted the physiological complex of annexin A2 and S100A10, both in a broken cell preparation and inside MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Thus, this class of compounds has promising properties as inhibitors of the interaction between annexin A2 and S100A10 and may help to elucidate the cellular function of this protein interaction.