Background: The impact of upregulation of platelet membrane glycoprotein (GP)IIb/IIIa and P-selectin on the onset of arterial thrombosis, venous thrombosis, and cancer encourages to hypothesize that dual inhibitor of GPIIb/IIIa and P-selectin receptors should simultaneously inhibit arterial thrombosis, block venous thrombosis, and slow tumor growth.
Methods: For this reason, the structural characteristics and the CDOCKER interaction energies of 12 carbolines were analyzed. This led to the design of 1-(4-isopropyl-phenyl)-β -carboline-3-carboxylic acid (ICCA) as a promising inhibitor of GPIIb/IIIa and P-selectin receptors.
Results: The synthetic route provided ICCA in 48% total yield and 99.6% high-performance liquid chromatography purity. In vivo 5 µmol/kg oral ICCA downregulated GPIIb/IIIa and P-selectin expression thereby inhibited arterial thrombosis, blocked venous thrombosis, and slowed down tumor growth, but did not damage the kidney and the liver.
Conclusion: Therefore, ICCA could be a promising candidate capable of downregulating GPIIb/IIIa and P-selectin receptors, inhibiting arterial thrombosis, blocking venous thrombosis, and slowing down tumor growth.
Keywords: thrombosis, cancer, GPIIb/IIIa, P-selectin