Discovery of INCB10820/PF-4178903, a potent, selective, and orally bioavailable dual CCR2 and CCR5 antagonist

We report the discovery of a potent, selective, and orally bioavailable dual CCR2 and CCR5 antagonist (3S,4S)-N-[(1R,3S)-3-isopropyl-3-({4-[4-(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-2-yl]piperazin-1-yl}carbonyl)cyclopentyl]-3-methoxytetrahydro-2H-pyran-4-amine (19). After evaluation in 28-day toxicology studies, compound 19 (INCB10820/PF-4178903) was selected as a clinical candidate.     

Pyridazine-derived γ-secretase modulators

SAR of a novel series of pyridazine-derived γ-secretase modulators is described. Compound 25 was found to be a potent modulator in vitro, which on further profiling, was found to decrease Aβ42 and Aβ40, and maintain the levels of total Aβ. Furthermore, 25 demonstrated excellent pharmacokinetic parameters as well as good CNS penetration in the rat.     

噬菌体展示HIV-1 Tat38-61碱性区51和55位随机突变体文库的构建

为了构建噬菌体展示Tat38-61(51N/55N) 碱性区突变体文库,进一步研究HIV-1 Tat38-61表位的分子进化筛选,采用含随机核苷酸序列的引物,通过Overlap PCR的方法获得51和55位氨基酸随机突变的全长Tat编码序列,再以此为模板PCR扩增出两端含有Xba I识别序列的Tat38-61突变体片段HIV-1 Tat38-61(51N/55N),克隆至噬菌体展示载体pCANTAB5S上,转化大肠杆菌TG1,经M13K07辅助噬菌体拯救,构建噬菌体展示Tat38-61(51N/55N) 碱性区突变体文库。结果显示文库的库容量为5.0×106,滴度为2.65×1012 TU/mL,阳性克隆率为56.50％;序列分析显示文库中51、55位核苷酸与氨基酸均呈随机性分布,达到了对文库进行分子进化筛选的要求,为获得可用作疫苗候选物的新型Tat突变体奠定基础。     

Identification of curcumin derivatives as human glyoxalase I inhibitors: A combination of biological evaluation, molecular docking, 3D-QSAR and molecular dynamics simulation studies

Several recent developments suggest that the human glyoxalase I (GLO I) is a potential target for anti-tumor drug development. In present study, a series of curcumin derivatives with high inhibitory activity against human GLO I were discovered. Inhibition constant (K(i)) values of compounds 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 to GLO I are 4.600μM, 2.600μM, 3.200μM, 3.600μM and 3.600μM, respectively. To elucidate the structural features of potent inhibitors, docking-based three-dimensional structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) analyses were performed. Satisfactory agreement between experiment and theory suggests that comparative molecular similarity index analysis (CoMSIA) modeling exhibit much better correlation and predictive power. The cross-validated q(2) value is 0.638 while no-validation r(2) value is 0.930. Integrated with docking-based 3D-QSAR CoMSIA modeling, molecular surface property (electrostatic and steric) mapping and molecular dynamics simulation, a set of receptor-ligand binding models and bio-affinity predictive models for rational design of more potent inhibitors of GLO I are established.     

Prediction of N-myristoylation modification of proteins by SVM

Attachment of a myristoyl group to NH(2)-terminus of a nascent protein among protein post-translational modification (PTM) is called myristoylation. The myristate moiety of proteins plays an important role for their biological functions, such as regulation of membrane binding (HIV-1 Gag) and enzyme activity (AMPK). Several predictors based on protein sequences alone are hitherto proposed. However, they produce a great number of false positive and false negative predictions; or they cannot be used for general purpose (i.e., taxon-specific); or threshold values of the decision rule of predictors need to be selected with cautiousness. Here, we present novel and taxon-free predictors based on protein primary structure. To identify myristoylated proteins accurately, we employ a widely used machinelearning algorithm, support vector machine (SVM). A series of SVM predictors are developed in the present study where various scales representing physicochemical and biological properties of amino acids (from the AAindex database) are used for numerical transformation of protein sequences. Of the predictors, the top ten achieve accuracies of >98% (the average value is 98.34%), and also the area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of >0.98. Compared with those of previous studies, the prediction accuracies are improved by about 3 to 4%.     

In vitro differentiation of rat embryonic stem cells into functional cardiomyocytes

The recent breakthrough in the generation of rat embryonic stem cells (rESCs) opens the door to application of gene targeting to create models for the study of human diseases. In addition, the in vitro differentiation system from rESCs into derivatives of three germ layers will serve as a powerful tool and resource for the investigation of mammalian development, cell function, tissue repair, and drug discovery. However, these uses have been limited by the difficulty of in vitro differentiation. The aims of this study were to establish an in vitro differentiation system from rESCs and to investigate whether rESCs are capable of forming terminal-differentiated cardiomyocytes. Using newly established rESCs, we found that embryoid body (EB)-based method used in mouse ESC (mESC) differentiation failed to work for the serum-free cultivated rESCs. We then developed a protocol by combination of three chemical inhibitors and feeder-conditioned medium. Under this condition, rESCs formed EBs, propagated and differentiated into three embryonic germ layers. Moreover, rESC-formed EBs could differentiate into spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes after plating. Analyses of molecular, structural, and functional properties revealed that rESC-derived cardiomyocytes were similar to those derived from fetal rat hearts and mESCs. In conclusion, we successfully developed an in vitro differentiation system for rESCs through which functional myocytes were generated and displayed phenotypes of rat fetal cardiomyocytes. This unique cellular system will provide a new approach to study the early development and cardiac function, and serve as an important tool in pharmacological testing and cell therapy.     

EBV裂解复制周期调控机制研究新进展

EBV与许多恶性疾病包括霍奇金病、伯基特淋巴瘤、鼻咽癌等恶性肿瘤发病有关人类B淋巴细胞是EBV天然宿主,其在宿主细胞中的生活周期分为潜伏感染和裂解感染。EBV潜伏感染时,为逃避宿主细胞的免疫杀伤,仅表达少量基因产物。而在外界条件如化学、物理或宿主细胞分化的刺激下,EBV可由潜伏感染进入到裂解复制(Lytic Replication)感染周期,促进病毒在宿主细胞中播散。根据EBV裂解复制产物出现的时间顺序可将裂解复制周期分为裂解复制立即早期、早期和晚期。1 EBV裂解复制不同时期产物的调控作用     

秸秆还田条件下灌水模式对冬小麦产量和水肥利用效率的影响

于2008-2010年,在山西省临汾市尧都区半干旱、半湿润季风气候区,通过大田试验研究了玉米秸秆连续还田条件下灌水模式对冬小麦籽粒产量、干物质转移及水肥利用效率的影响.结果表明:浇越冬水可促进小麦分蘖;浇拔节水可提高分蘖成穗率,增加成穗数;浇孕穗水可促进穗部干物质积累,提高千粒重.浇2水时,推迟第2次浇水时期使叶片干物质转移量和穗粒数增加;浇2水比浇l水的肥料表观利用率高,可促进穗部干物质积累.越冬水灌水量和总灌水量对分蘖、穗部干物质积累的影响较小;拔节期或孕穗期增加灌水量则更有利于养分吸收及干物质积累与转移,提高籽粒水分利用效率,产量构成因素协调,增产效果明显.因此,确保越冬水可实现稳产,在越冬水基础上,拔节期增量灌水(900 m3·hm-2)可满足冬小麦中后期生长发育的需要,提高籽粒水分利用效率,实现节水高产栽培.     

基于过程的小麦茎鞘夹角动态模拟

基于不同株型品种和不同密度处理的小麦田间试验,连续观察并记录各处理不同叶位叶鞘与主茎之间的夹角,进一步利用系统分析方法和动态建模技术,构建基于过程的小麦叶片茎鞘夹角的动态模拟模型.结果表明:小麦茎鞘夹角随叶片生育进程不断加大,并随密度的增大而减小;从第2叶开始,最大茎鞘夹角随叶位的增加而减小.所建模型利用Logistic方程描述叶片茎鞘夹角随生育进程的动态变化过程,使用分段函数描述最大茎鞘夹角随叶位的动态变化,引入品种参数(第2叶茎鞘夹角的最大值)量化了茎鞘夹角在不同品种之间的差异,并利用基本苗量化了密度对茎鞘夹角的影响.基于独立的田间试验资料对所建模型进行测试与检验,结果显示茎鞘夹角模拟值与观测值之间的均方根差为1.7°.表明模型对小麦主茎叶片茎鞘夹角的动态变化过程具有较好的预测性,为小麦生长过程的可视化表达奠定了技术基础.     

基于转录终点序列特征预测大肠杆菌sRNA

细菌sRNA是一类长度在40～500nt的调控RNA,在细菌与环境相互作用中发挥重要功能,因此,细菌sRNA识别研究具有重要意义。然而,与蛋白编码基因具有易于识别的特征不同,目前细菌sRNA识别仍是一件比较困难的事。此方法介绍了一个基于已知细菌sRNA转录终点的碱基频率矩阵来识别sRNA的预测策略,并在大肠杆菌K-12 MG1655中进行了sRNA的预测。结果表明,该模型在独立测试集中具有较高的特异性和阳性检出率,因此,这一方法将为实验发现细菌sRNA提供较好的生物信息学支持。