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Many molecules fail to reach the market due to poor pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, rendering the potential drug virtually unavailable for the primary target despite efficient administration to the body. PK properties of endogenous and exogenous compounds in mammals are dependent, among other factors, on their ability to interact with serum proteins. The extent of binding can greatly influence their ADME (adsorption, distribution, metabolism and execration) profile. Reliable and cost-effective bioavailability studies, early in the drug discovery process, can lead to an improvement of the success rate for compounds entering clinical trials. Optical biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection emerged as an efficient approach to obtain large amounts of information about the binding of small molecules to serum proteins. Simple, automated and fast assays provide a good throughput, versatility and highly informative data output, rendering the methodology particularly suited for early screening. The ability to provide basic information on PK can be easily coupled to structure-activity relationship analysis. In this review, features of the technology and its employment for the study of serum protein-small molecule interactions are presented and discussed.

In the continuous research for potential drug lead candidates, the availability of highly informative screening methodologies may constitute a decisive element in the selection of best-in-class compounds. In the present study, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based assay was developed and employed to investigate interactions between human recombinant AChE (hAChE) and four known ligands: galantamine, tacrine, donepezil and edrophonium. To this aim, a sensor chip was functionalized with hAChE using mild immobilization conditions to best preserve enzyme integrity. Binding affinities and, for the first time, kinetic rate constants for all drug-hAChE complexes formation/disruption were determined. Inhibitors were classified in two groups: slow-reversible and fast-reversible binders according to respective target residence time. Combining data obtained on drug-target residence time with data obtained on serum albumin binding levels, a good correlation with potency, plasma protein binding in vivo, and administration regimen was found. The outcomes of this work demonstrated that the developed SPR-based assay is suitable for the screening, the binding affinity ranking and the kinetic evaluation of hAChE inhibitors. The method proposed ensures a simpler and cost-effective assay to quantify kinetic rate constants for inhibitor-hAChE interaction as compared with other proposed and published methods. Eventually, the determination of residence time in combination with preliminary ADME studies might constitute a better tool to predict in vivo behaviour, a key information for the research of new potential drug candidates.

Caffeic acid-derived polyethers are a class of natural products isolated from the root extracts of comfrey and bugloss, which are endowed with intriguing pharmacological properties as anticancer agents. The synthesis of new polyether derivatives is achieved through ring-opening polymerization of chiral 2,3-disubstituted oxiranes, whose absolute configurations define the overall stereochemistry of the produced polymer. The absolute stereochemistry of one of these building blocks, methyl trans-3-(3,4-dimethoxy-phenyl)glycidate (3), was therefore characterized by the combination of enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopy, and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations. Initial efforts aiming at the isolation of enantiomers by means of a standard preparative HPLC protocol followed by offline ECD analysis failed due to unexpected degradation of the samples after collection. The stopped-flow HPLC-CD approach, by which the ECD spectra of enantiomers are measured online with the HPLC system, was applied to overcome this issue and allowed a fast, reliable, and chemical-saving analysis, while avoiding the risks of sample degradation during the collection and processing of enantiomeric fractions. Subsequent TD-DFT calculations identified ( as the first eluted enantiomeric fraction on the Lux Cellulose-2 column, therefore achieving a full stereochemical characterization of the chiral oxirane under investigation.

Accepted Manuscript version. The Published Journal Article is available on theJournal of ChromatographyA, Volume 1363, pages 150-154 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2014.07.069). SupplementaryMaterial available free of charge on the article webpage. © 2014. This Manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ABSTRACT Levamisole, an anthelmintic drug, has been increasingly employed as an adulterant of illicit street cocaine over the last decade; recently, the use of tetramisole, the racemic mixture of levamisole and its enantiomer dexamisole, was also occasionally observed. A new enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method, performed on cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phases in normal-phase mode, was validated and applied to determine the enantiomeric composition of tetramisole enantiomers in seized cocaine samples. Furthermore, the hyphenation of the validated HPLC method with a circular dichroism (CD) detection system allowed the direct determination of elution order and a selective monitoring of levamisole and dexamisole in the presence of possible interferences. The method was applied to the identification and quantitation of the two enantiomers of tetramisole in seized street cocaine samples.

NikR is a transcription factor that regulates the expression of Ni(II)-dependent enzymes and other proteins involved in nickel trafficking. In the human pathogenic bacterium Helicobacter pylori, NikR (HpNikR) controls, among others, the expression of the Ni(II) enzyme urease by binding the double-strand DNA (dsDNA) operator region of the urease promoter (OPureA) in a Ni(II)-dependent mode. This article describes the complementary use of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) to carry out a mechanistic characterization of the HpNikR–OPureA interaction. An active surface was prepared by affinity capture of OPureA and validated for the recognition process in the SPR experiments. Subsequently, the Ni(II)-dependent affinity of the transcription factor for its operator region was assessed through kinetic evaluation of the binding process at variable Ni(II) concentrations. The kinetic data are consistent with a two-step binding mode involving an initial encounter between the two interactants, followed by a conformational rearrangement of the HpNikR–OPureA complex, leading to high affinity binding. This conformational change is only observed in the presence of the full set of four Ni(II) ions bound to the protein. The SPR assay developed and validated in this study constitutes a suitable method to screen potential drug lead candidates acting as inhibitors of this protein–dsDNA interaction. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Accepted Manuscript version. The Published Journal Article is available on the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, Volume 122, pages 166–172 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2016.01.051). Supplementary Material available free of charge on the article webpage. © 2016. This Manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ABSTRACT Cucurbitacins are a group of tetracyclic triterpenoids, known for centuries for their anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, which are being actively investigated over the past decades in order to elucidate their mechanism of action. In perspective of being used as therapeutic molecules, a pharmacokinetic characterization is crucial to assess the affinity towards blood carrier proteins and extrapolate distribution volumes. Usually, pharmacokinetic data are first collected on animal models and later translated to humans; therefore, an early characterization of the interaction with carrier proteins from different species is highly desirable. In the present study, the interactions of cucurbitacins E and I with human and rat serum albumins (HSA and RSA) were investigated by means of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based optical biosensing and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Active HSA and RSA sensor chip surfaces were prepared through an amine coupling reaction protocol, and the equilibrium dissociation constants (Kd) for the different cucurbitacins-serum albumins complexes were then determined by SPR analysis. Further information on the binding of cucurbitacins to serum albumins was obtained by CD competition experiments with biliverdin, a specific marker binding to subdomain IB of HSA. SPR data unveiled a previously unreported binding event between CucI and HSA; the determined binding affinities of both compounds were slightly higher for RSA with respect to HSA, even though all the compounds can be ranked as high-affinity binders for both carriers. CD analysis showed that the two cucurbitacins modify the binding of biliverdin to serum albumins through opposite allosteric modulation (positive for HSA, negative for RSA), confirming the need for caution in the translation of pharmacokinetic data across species.