Small-molecule inducers of insulin expression in pancreatic alpha cells

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a common disease with many serious complications. It is caused by a malfunction of insulin-producing ß-cells. These cells are found in the islet of Langerhans in the pancreas. Another important cell type found in the pancreas is the glucagon-producing --cell. According to the literature it is known, that these two cell types have the potential to be interconverted into one another. Overexpression of a single gene, namely Pax4, is sufficient for this transdifferentiation. Furthermore, it has been found feasible to trigger the same effect by small molecules. 1-(Phenethylamino)-3H-naphtho[1,2,3-de]quinoline-2,7-dione was identified to induce a stable change in cell shape causing --cells to adopt features of ß-cells, e.g. insulin production. In order to get a better understanding of the active target side a library synthesis was desired with variations of the substituents on both nitrogens. Different synthetic approaches were conducted to find a suitable route towards the synthesis of these naphthoquinolines. A high yielding and modular synthesis was established by starting from 1-chloroanthraquinone.