Small-molecule inhibitors of cell signaling

Small-molecule inhibitors of several intracellular signaling proteins, mostly protein kinases, show tremendous selectivity and potency. The complexity and redundancy of signaling pathways presents opportunities for therapeutic selectivity and some clinical results are remarkable. New strategies are being developed to interfere with previously intractable targets, such as protein-protein interactions.     

综述: 自噬参与心脏疾病调控的研究进展

细胞自噬(autophagy)是将细胞内受损、变性或衰老的蛋白质以及细胞器运输到溶酶体内进行消化降解的过程．细胞自噬既是一种广泛存在的正常生理过程,又是细胞对不良环境的一种防御机制,参与多种疾病的病理过程．正常水平的自噬可以保护细胞免受环境刺激的影响,但自噬过度和自噬不足却可能导致疾病的发生．在心脏中,心肌细胞自噬对维持心肌功能具有重要的作用,自噬的异常可能导致各种心肌疾病如溶酶体储积症(Danon disease)等．各种心血管刺激如心肌缺血(ischemia)、再灌注(reperfusion)损伤、慢性缺氧(chronic hypoxia)等均可诱导心肌细胞自噬增强．而这些情况下心肌细胞自噬的作用还不清楚：它是否是一种潜在的细胞存活机制还是导致细胞死亡或疾病发生的病理性机制,或者是同时具有两种作用,目前还没有定论．心脏疾病是心肌功能出现异常时产生的各种病理状态的总称．在多种心脏疾病中,均伴随有心肌细胞自噬的改变,且影响着疾病的发生发展．在心肌肥厚(hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)中,细胞自噬程度降低而加剧心肌肥厚;在心力衰竭(heart failure,HF)中,细胞自噬增强可导致心肌细胞自噬性死亡;而在心肌梗死(myocardial infarction,MI)中,细胞自噬增强可减小梗死面积．但是细胞自噬在心脏疾病中到底扮演着怎样的角色,取决于细胞自噬发生的水平及病理状态．目前越来越多的人开始关注药物与细胞自噬调节之间的联系,且主要集中于抗肿瘤药物及心血管调节药物的研究．另外,有报道维生素类以及雌激素受体拮抗剂他莫西芬对细胞自噬也具有调节作用．研究心肌细胞自噬与心脏疾病的关系,以及药物对细胞自噬的调节,将有利于从自噬的角度探讨心脏疾病的发生发展过程及机制,开发出治疗心脏疾病的药物．     

Cell Labeling and Targeting with Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Targeted delivery of cells and therapeutic agents would benefit a wide range of biomedical applications by concentrating the therapeutic effect at the target site while minimizing deleterious effects to off-target sites. Magnetic cell targeting is an efficient, safe, and straightforward delivery technique. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) are biodegradable, biocompatible, and can be endocytosed into cells to render them responsive to magnetic fields. The synthesis process involves creating magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles followed by high-speed emulsification to form a poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) coating. The PLGA-magnetite SPIONs are approximately 120 nm in diameter including the approximately 10 nm diameter magnetite core. When placed in culture medium, SPIONs are naturally endocytosed by cells and stored as small clusters within cytoplasmic endosomes. These particles impart sufficient magnetic mass to the cells to allow for targeting within magnetic fields. Numerous cell sorting and targeting applications are enabled by rendering various cell types responsive to magnetic fields. SPIONs have a variety of other biomedical applications as well including use as a medical imaging contrast agent, targeted drug or gene delivery, diagnostic assays, and generation of local hyperthermia for tumor therapy or tissue soldering.     

靶向铜绿假单胞菌(Pseudomonas aeruginosa)粘肽合成酶PBP3的抗菌先导化合物的虚拟筛选及活性研究

【目的】开发出与铜绿假单胞菌粘肽合成酶PBP3有高亲和力,具有全新结构的先导化合物。【方法】以铜绿假单胞菌粘肽合成酶PBP3为靶点,通过分子对接软件DOCK6.5,对含有104万个小分子化合物的数据库进行了大规模虚拟筛选,选取结构相对简单的中选化合物进行合成,得到先导化合物,并验证其抑菌活性。【结果】通过grid score进行第一轮初筛,筛选出grid score分值小于–30 kcal/mol的6万个化合物,接着以amber score进行第二轮筛选,筛出amber score分值小于–20 kcal/mol的化合物约200个。最终,经过观察分析,从中挑选出4种打分高并且结构新颖的小分子化合物作为先导化合物。合成出的先导化合物及其衍生物对铜绿假单胞菌等常见微生物的最小抑菌浓度(MIC)在175–275μg/m L之间,对革兰氏阴性菌和阳性菌均有效,MIC值比作为阳性对照的磺胺嘧啶更低,说明先导化合物具有较好的抗菌活性。【结论】这些先导化合物可以进一步开发为新型抗菌药物,用于解决铜绿假单胞菌的耐药性问题。     

Liposome Vector Containing Biosurfactant-Complexed DNA as Herpes Simplex Virus Thymidine Kinase Gene Delivery System

For injectable-sized liposome complexed with DNA (lipoplexes) with high transfection efficiency of genes, we initially prepared small-sized liposomes by addition of biosurfactant. For selectivity of gene expression, the thymidine kinase (MK-tk) gene controlled by midkine was used for herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene therapy. Liposomes composed of 3([N-(N′,N′–dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl] cholesterol (DC-Chol), L-dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE), and a biosurfactant, such as β-sitosterol β-D-glucoside (Sit-G) for Sit-G-liposomes and mannosylerythrytol lipid A (MEL) for MEL-liposomes, produced about 300-nm-sized lipoplexes. Sit-G- and MEL-liposomes showed higher transfection efficiency of the luciferase marker gene and thymidine kinase activity in the presence of serum in the cells. The treatment with transfection of MK-tk gene by Sit-G-liposome and injection of ganciclovir significantly reduced tumor growth in a solid tumor model, compared with that by Sit-G-liposome alone. This finding suggested that Sit-G-liposome is a potential vector for HSV-tk gene therapy.     

A virtual high-throughput screening approach to the discovery of novel inhibitors of the bacterial leucine transporter,LeuT

Abstract

Membrane proteins are intrinsically involved in both human and pathogen physiology, and are the target of 60% of all marketed drugs. During the past decade, advances in the studies of membrane proteins using X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy and NMR-based techniques led to the elucidation of over 250 unique membrane protein crystal structures. The aim of the European Drug Initiative for Channels and Transporter (EDICT) project is to use the structures of clinically significant membrane proteins for the development of lead molecules. One of the approaches used to achieve this is a virtual high-throughput screening (vHTS) technique initially developed for soluble proteins. This paper describes application of this technique to the discovery of inhibitors of the leucine transporter (LeuT), a member of the neurotransmitter:sodium symporter (NSS) family.     

Strong genetic influences on measures of behavioral‐regulation among inbred rat strains

A fundamental challenge for any complex nervous system is to regulate behavior in response to environmental challenges. Three measures of behavioral‐regulation were tested in a panel of eight inbred rat strains. These measures were: (1) sensation seeking as assessed by locomotor response to novelty and the sensory reinforcing effects of light onset, (2) attention and impulsivity, as measured by a choice reaction time task and (3) impulsivity as measured by a delay discounting task. Deficient behavioral‐regulation has been linked to a number of psychopathologies, including ADHD, Schizophrenia, Autism, drug abuse and eating disorders. Eight inbred rat strains (August Copenhagen Irish, Brown Norway, Buffalo, Fischer 344, Wistar Kyoto, Spontaneous Hypertensive Rat, Lewis, Dahl Salt Sensitive) were tested. With n = 9 for each strain, we observed robust strain differences for all tasks; heritability was estimated between 0.43 and 0.66. Performance of the eight inbred rat strains on the choice reaction time task was compared to the performance of outbred Sprague Dawley (n = 28) and Heterogeneous strain rats (n = 48). The results indicate a strong genetic influence on complex tasks related to behavioral‐regulation and indicate that some of the measures tap common genetically driven processes. Furthermore, our results establish the potential for future studies aimed at identifying specific alleles that influence variability for these traits. Identification of such alleles could contribute to our understanding of the molecular genetic basis of behavioral‐regulation, which is of fundamental importance and likely contributes to multiple psychiatric disorders .     

Drug block of the hERG potassium channel: insight from modeling

Many commonly used, structurally diverse, drugs block the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) K(+) channel to cause acquired long QT syndrome, which can lead to sudden death via lethal cardiac arrhythmias. This undesirable side effect is a major hurdle in the development of safe drugs. To gain insight about the structure of hERG and the nature of drug block we have produced structural models of the channel pore domain, into each of which we have docked a set of 20 hERG blockers. In the absence of an experimentally determined three-dimensional structure of hERG, each of the models was validated against site-directed mutagenesis data. First, hERG models were produced of the open and closed channel states, based on homology with the prokaryotic K(+) channel crystal structures. The modeled complexes were in partial agreement with the mutagenesis data. To improve agreement with mutagenesis data, a KcsA-based model was refined by rotating the four copies of the S6 transmembrane helix half a residue position toward the C-terminus, so as to place all residues known to be involved in drug binding in positions lining the central cavity. This model produces complexes that are consistent with mutagenesis data for smaller, but not larger, ligands. Larger ligands could be accommodated following refinement of this model by enlarging the cavity using the inherent flexibility about the glycine hinge (Gly648) in S6, to produce results consistent with the experimental data for the majority of ligands tested.     

Delivery of cytotoxic drugs from carrier cells to tumour cells by apoptosis

A new drug delivery approach, apoptotic-induced drug delivery (AIDD), is presented that is based on apoptosis as a mechanism to trigger delivery of drugs from carrier cells. It was investigated whether apoptotic drug-loaded carrier cells could deliver drugs to tumour cells by various mechanisms, including drug release through a more permeable apoptotic cell membrane, and by phagocytosis of drug-loaded apoptotic cells by tumour cells. The feasibility of this novel concept was evaluated in an in vitro carrier cell model that consisted of S49 mouse lymphoma cells that apoptose upon exposure to dexamethasone (DX). Membrane permeability was evaluated by measurement of release of a fluorescent dye (calcein-AM, C-AM) from C-AM-loaded S49 cells. Phagocytotsis of fluorescent PKH-26-labeled S49 cells was determined in co-culture studies with rat glioma (RG-2) cells using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. Cytotoxicity of RG-2 cells due to temozolomide (TMZ)-loaded S49 cells was evaluated by a colony formation assay following co-culture of these cells for up to 8h. Calcein release from S49 cells was enhanced by approximately 30% at 48h following treatment with DX compared to control S49 cells. Based on both flow cytometric and microscopic analyses, RG2 phagocytized apoptotic S49 cells to a four- to sevenfold greater extent than control S49 cells at co-incubation times from 4–48h. The TMZ-loaded apoptotic S49 cells caused the largest degree of toxicity, about 50% cell kill, whereas TMZ-loaded control S49 caused 30% cell kill. The preliminary data suggest that AIDD should be further explored. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

纤维素衍生物在固定酶和药物中的应用

本文综述了纤维素衍生物在固定酶和药物中的应用。