Structure–activity relationship study of 9-aminoacridine compounds in scrapie-infected neuroblastoma cells

A focused library of variously substituted 9-aminoacridine compounds was screened for bioactivity against accumulation of the infectious prion protein isoform, denoted PrPSc, in a cell model of prion replication. The efficacy of compounds against PrPSc accumulation was influenced by both substituents of the distal tertiary amine and acridine heterocycle, while cellular cytotoxicity was encoded in the acridine heterocycle substituents.