Background:

AY 9944 dihydrochloride is a selective inhibitor of Δ7-sterol reductase with IC50 value of 13 nM [1].

Δ7-sterol reductase (Dhcr7) is an enzyme and plays an important role in catalyzing the production of cholesterol from 7-Dehydrocholesterol through using NADPH [2, 3].

AY 9944 dihydrochloride is a potentΔ7-sterol reductase inhibitor and has higher inhibition thanΔ7-sterol reductase inhibitor BM15766 and triparanol. When tested with Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressed cDNA without an N-terminal 9E10 c-myc epitope (mycD7-ORF) and 5’ noncoding region (D7-ORF), AY 9944 dihydrochloride exhibited highly inhibition on D7-ORF (recombinant humanΔ7-sterol reductase ) with IC50 value of 13 nM [1]. In PBMCs isolated from AIDS patients, AY 9944 treatment exhibited ability to restore the normal mitogenic responses and cytokine profiles [2].

In Sprague-Dawley rats model of Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, administration of AY9944 elevated 7-DHC expression and reduced cholesterol in all biological tissues by inhibitingΔ7-sterol reductase [3].

参考文献:
[1].  Moebius, F.F., et al., Molecular cloning and expression of the human delta7-sterol reductase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 1998. 95(4): p. 1899-902.
[2].  Achour, A., et al., Restoration of immune response by a cationic amphiphilic drug (AY 9944) in vitro: a new approach To chemotherapy against human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 1998. 42(10): p. 2482-91.
[3].   Xu, L., et al., Novel oxysterols observed in tissues and fluids of AY9944-treated rats: a model for Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. J Lipid Res, 2011. 52(10): p. 1810-20.