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ABSTRACTThis study characterizes aminoindole molecules that are analogs of Genz-644442. Genz-644442 was identified as a hit in a screen of ∼70,000 compounds in the Broad Institute's small-molecule library and the ICCB-L compound collection at Harvard Medical School. Genz-644442 is a potent inhibitor of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro(50% inhibitory concentrations [IC50s], 200 to 285 nM) and inhibits P. berghei in vivowith an efficacy of >99% in an adapted version of Peters' 4-day suppressive test (W. Peters, Ann. Trop. Med. Parasitol. 69:155–171, 1975). Genz-644442 became the focus of medicinal chemistry optimization; 321 analogs were synthesized and were tested for in vitropotency against P. falciparumand for in vitroabsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties. This yielded compounds with IC50s of approximately 30 nM. The lead compound, Genz-668764, has been characterized in more detail. It is a single enantiomer with IC50s of 28 to 65 nM against P. falciparum in vitro. In the 4-day P. bergheimodel, when it was dosed at 100 mg/kg of body weight/day, no parasites were detected on day 4 postinfection. However, parasites recrudesced by day 9. Dosing at 200 mg/kg/day twice a day resulted in cures of 3/5 animals. The compound had comparable activity against P. falciparumblood stages in a human-engrafted NOD-scidmouse model. Genz-668764 had a terminal half-life of 2.8 h and plasma trough levels of 41 ng/ml when it was dosed twice a day orally at 55 mg/kg/day. Seven-day rat safety studies showed a no-observable-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) at 200 mg/kg/day; the compound was not mutagenic in Ames tests, did not inhibit the hERG channel, and did not have potent activity against a broad panel of receptors and enzymes. Employing allometric scaling and using in vitroADME data, the predicted human minimum efficacious dose of Genz-668764 in a 3-day once-daily dosing regimen was 421 mg/day/70 kg, which would maintain plasma trough levels above the IC90against P. falciparumfor at least 96 h after the last dose. The predicted human therapeutic index was approximately 3, on the basis of the exposure in rats at the NOAEL. We were unable to select for parasites with >2-fold decreased sensitivity to the parent compound, Genz-644442, over 270 days of in vitroculture under drug pressure. These characteristics make Genz-668764 a good candidate for preclinical development.

Glutathione-S-transferases (GST's) in maize represent a family of enzymes which conjugate glutathione to several major classes of pre-emergent, selective herbicides. Chemicals termed safeners have been demonstrated to increase the tolerance of maize toward such herbicides when the maize seed has been previously treated with safeners. It has subsequently been shown that corresponding increases in glutathione-S-transferase species occur. To determine whether these compounds act at a transcriptional level we have used synthetic oligonucleotide probes to isolate cDNA clones encoding the major GST polypeptide subunit, designated GST A. The identity of the clones has been confirmed by hybrid-selected mRNA translation and immunoprecipitation using antibodies made against this GST species as well as by production of active GST in yeast cells transformed with an expression vector containing the cloned DNA. GST A has been found to be encoded in a mRNA of 1.1 kb. Sequencing of cDNA products obtained by primer extension of maize mRNA using our oligonucleotide probes is consistent with this mRNA corresponding to the isolated cDNA clone. Using the clone as a probe for Northern analysis we have found a three to four-fold increase in the steady state level of this mRNA in maize tissue grown from safener-treated seeds. The level of safener which gives this induction is comparable to that required to obtain herbicide tolerance in the field.

We have used the cDNA clone encoding maize glutathione-S-transferase (GST I) to isolate a genomic DNA clone containing the complete GST I gene. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the cDNA and genomic clones has yielded a complete amino acid sequence for maize GST I and provided the exon-intron map of its gene. The mRNA homologous sequences in the maize GST I gene consist of a 107 bp 5' untranslated region, a 642 bp coding region and ˜340 bp of the 3' untranslated region. They are divided into three exons by two introns which interrupt the coding region. The 5' untranslated spacer contains an unusual sequence of pentamer AGAGG repeated seven times. The inbred maize line (Missouri 17) contains a single gene for GST I, whereas the hybrid line (3780A) contains two genes. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the primer extended cDNA products reveals that the 5' untranslated regions of the two genes in the hybrid 3780A are identical except for a 6 bp internal deletion (or insertion). The amino acid sequence of maize GST I shares no apparent sequence homology with the published sequences of animal GST's and represents the first published sequence of a plant GST. re]19850813 ac]19851126

Guanylin is a mammalian peptide homologue of heat‐stable enterotoxins that acts on intestinal guanylate cyclase to elicit an increase in cyclic GMP. We have isolated a cDNA encoding an apparent precursor of guanylin from a human intestinal cDNA library. The mRNA is expressed at high levels in human ileum and colon. Human guanylin stimulated increases in T84 cell cyclic GMP levels, displaced 125I‐labelled heat‐stable enterotoxin (STa) binding to this cell line, and stimulated increases in short‐circuit current (Isc) or isolated rat proximal colonic mucosa. This peptide may play a role in regulating fluid and electrolyte absorption in human intestines.

The isolation and characterization of a family of maize glutathione-S-transferases (GST′s) has been described previously (1). These enzymes are designated GSTs I, II and III based on size, substrate specificity and responsiveness to safeners. GST III has been shown to act on the herbicide alachlor as well as the commonly used substrate l-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) (1,2). Clones were isolated from a maize cDNA library in AgtlO. Three clones contained the entire coding region for GST III. The sequences of these clones were consistent with the known amino terminal GST III protein sequence. Moreover, expression of one of these clones in E. coli resulted in a GST activity as measured with both CDNB and alachlor, proving that at least one of the clones encodes an active GST III species. With the enzyme expressed in E. coli it will become possible to study enzyme structure-function relationships ex planta. While a number of different GST proteins are present in maize tissue the GST III gene is present in single or low copy in the genome.