Novel Lead Generation through Hypothetical Pharmacophore Three-Dimensional Database Searching: Discovery of Isoflavonoids as Nonsteroidal Inhibitors of Rat 5α-Reductase

In 2001, researchers used a hypothetical pharmacophore model to identify new nonsteroidal inhibitors of rat 5α-reductase, an enzyme associated with several conditions including androgenic alopecia. They screened a database with a pharmacophore generated from 16 different compounds, which led to the discovery of eight isoflavone derivatives as potential inhibitors. These derivatives were categorized based on their inhibitory concentration (IC50) values, with the first category (19a-d) showing IC50 values between 10-27 nM and the second category (19e-h) showing IC50 values of 0.4-23 µM. However, the actual IC50 values against rat 5α-reductase ranged from 6.9-49 µM, which was less potent than existing inhibitors. The study highlights the potential of these derivatives as 5α-reductase inhibitors, despite lower efficacy in rats, and suggests that further testing on human 5α-reductase is necessary. The research illustrates the utility of pharmacophore modeling and 3D database searching in drug discovery, and acknowledges financial support from the National Science Council and the National Health Research Institutes of the Republic of China.