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Rationale: Pendrin is encoded by SLC26A4 and its mutation leads to congenital hearing loss. Additionally, pendrin is up-regulated in inflammatory airway diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, allergic rhinitis, and asthma. In this study, the effects of a novel pendrin inhibitor, YS-01, were investigated in an LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI) mice model, and the mechanism underlying the effect of YS-01 was examined. Methods: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 mg/kg) was intranasally instilled in wild type (WT) and pendrin-null mice. YS-01 (10 mg/kg) was administered intra-peritoneally before or after LPS inhalation. Lung injury parameters were assessed in the lung tissue and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Pendrin levels in the BALF of 41 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to pneumonia and 25 control (solitary pulmonary nodule) patients were also measured. Results: LPS instillation induced lung injury in WT mice but not in pendrin-null mice. Pendrin expression was increased by LPS stimulation both in vitro and in vivo. YS-01 treatment dramatically attenuated lung injury and reduced BALF cell counts and protein concentration after LPS instillation in WT mice. Proinflammatory cytokines and NF-κB activation were suppressed by YS-01 treatment in LPS-induced ALI mice. In BALF of patients whose ARDS was caused by pneumonia, pendrin expression was up-regulated compared to that in controls (mean, 24.86 vs. 6.83 ng/mL, P < 0.001). Conclusions: A novel pendrin inhibitor, YS-01, suppressed lung injury in LPS-induced ALI mice and our data provide a new strategy for the treatment of inflammatory airway diseases including sepsis-induced ALI.

The enzyme leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LRS) and the amino acid leucine regulate the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Leucine-dependent mTORC1 activation depends on GTPase activating protein events mediated by LRS. In a prior study, compound BC-LI-0186 was discovered and shown to interfere with the mTORC1 signaling pathway by inhibiting the LRS-RagD interaction. However, BC-LI-0186 exhibited poor solubility and was metabolized by human liver microsomes. In this study, in silico physicochemical properties and metabolite analysis of BC-LI-0186 are used to investigate the addition of functional groups to improve solubility and microsomal stability. In vitro experiments demonstrated that 7b and 8a had improved chemical properties while still maintaining inhibitory activity against mTORC1. The results suggest a new strategy for the discovery of novel drug candidates and the treatment of diverse mTORC1-related diseases.

Although natural products are an important source of drugs and drug leads, identification and validation of their target proteins have proven difficult. Here, we report the development of a systematic strategy for target identification and validation employing drug affinity responsive target stability (DARTS) and mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) without modifying or labeling natural compounds. Through a validation step using curcumin, which targets aminopeptidase N (APN), we successfully standardized the systematic strategy. Using label-free voacangine, an antiangiogenic alkaloid molecule as the model natural compound, DARTS analysis revealed vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) as a target protein. Voacangine inhibits VEGFR2 kinase activity and its downstream signaling by binding to the kinase domain of VEGFR2, as was revealed by docking simulation. Through cell culture assays, voacangine was found to inhibit the growth of glioblastoma cells expressing high levels of VEGFR2. Specific localization of voacangine to tumor compartments in a glioblastoma xenograft mouse was revealed by MSI analysis. The overlap of histological images with the MSI signals for voacangine was intense in the tumor regions and showed colocalization of voacangine and VEGFR2 in the tumor tissues by immunofluorescence analysis of VEGFR2. The strategy employing DARTS and MSI to identify and validate the targets of a natural compound as demonstrated for voacangine in this study is expected to streamline the general approach of drug discovery and validation using other biomolecules including natural products.

In this study we showed that 2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl (R)-3-methoxy-3-oxo-2-stearamidopropyl phosphate [(R)-TEMOSPho], a derivative of an organic chemical identified from a natural product library, promotes highly efficient differentiation of megakaryocytes. Specifically, (R)-TEMOSPho induces cell cycle arrest, cell size increase and polyploidization from K562 and HEL cells, which are used extensively to model megakaryocytic differentiation. In addition, megakaryocyte-specific cell surface markers showed a dramatic increase in expression in response to (R)-TEMOSPho treatment. Importantly, we demonstrated that such megakaryocytic differentiation can also be induced from primary human CD34(+) haematopoietic stem cells. Activation of the PI3K-AKT pathway and, to a lesser extent, the MEK-ERK pathway appears to be required for this process, as blocking with specific inhibitors interferes with the differentiation of K562 cells. A subset of (R)-TEMOSPho-treated K562 cells undergoes spontaneous apoptosis and produces platelets that are apparently functional, as they bind to fibrinogen, express P-selectin and aggregate in response to SFLLRN and AYPGFK, the activating peptides for the PAR1 and PAR4 receptors, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that (R)-TEMOSPho will be useful for dissecting the molecular mechanisms of megakaryocytic differentiation, and that this class of compounds represents potential therapeutic reagents for thrombocytopenia.

RUNX3, a tumor suppressor, is suppressed in various cancers by abnormal epigenetic changes. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) can deacetylate the lysine residues of RUNX3, followed by degradation via a ubiquitin-mediated pathway. Inhibition of HDAC leads to functional restoration of the RUNX3 protein by epigenetic expression and RUNX3 protein stabilization. We previously reported a series of HDAC inhibitors that restored RUNX3 function. In the present study, we introduced an alkenyl linker group to pyridine-based HDAC inhibitors to improve their potencies and chemical properties. This alkenyl linker made the compounds more rigid, facilitating a better fit than alkyl moieties to the active site of HDAC proteins. Most compounds in this series exhibited potent RUNX activities, HDAC inhibitory activities, and inhibitory activities towards the growth of human cancer cell lines. Notably, one of these derivatives, (E)-3-(1-cinnamyl-2-oxo-1,2-dihydropyridin-3-yl)-N-hydroxyacrylamide (7k), showed excellent properties in a microsomal stability study, in a xenograft study, and in an in vivo pharmacokinetic evaluation. Modulation of RUNX3 therefore results in highly potent and orally available anticancer chemotherapeutic agents.

A series of coumarin based TACE inhibitors were designed to bind in S1' pocket of TACE enzyme based on their docking study. Twelve analogues were synthesized and most of compounds were active in vitro TACE enzyme inhibition as well as cellular TNF-α inhibition. Among these, 15l effectively inhibited the production of serum TNF-α by oral administration at a dose of 30 mg/kg. Compound 15l also showed a good oral bioavailability at 42% and effectively inhibited paw edema in rat carrageenan model. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) study using genetic function approximation technique (GFA) and docking study were performed to confirm the series of coumarin core TACE inhibitors. QSAR model have been evaluated internally and externally using test set prediction. Through docking study of each molecule, it is validated that the electrostatic descriptors from the QSAR equation could explain the importance of S1' pocket and the TACE inhibitory activity well.

RhoB is expressed during tumor cell proliferation, survival, invasion, and metastasis. In malignant progression, the expression levels of RhoB are commonly attenuated. RhoB is known to be linked to the regulation of the PI3K/Akt survival pathways. Based on aliphatic amido-quaternary ammonium salts that induce apoptosis via up-regulation of RhoB, we synthesized novel aliphatic sulfonamido-quaternary ammonium salts. These new synthetic compounds were evaluated for their biological activities using an in vitro RhoB promoter assay in HeLa cells, and in a growth inhibition assay using human cancer cell lines including PC-3, NUGC-3, MDA-MB-231, ACHN, HCT-15, and NCI-H23. Compound 5b (ethyl-dimethyl-{3-[methyl-(tetradecane-1-sulfonyl)-amino]-propyl}-ammonium; iodide) was the most promising anticancer agent in the series, based upon the potency of growth inhibition and RhoB promotion. These new aliphatic sulfonamido-quaternary ammonium salts could be a valuable series for development of new anticancer chemotherapeutic agents.

A keratinolytic proteinase (KPase) which is regarded as an important factor in the pathogenesis of dermatophytosis was isolated and purified from Microsporum (M.) canis culture filtrates. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the occurrence of circulating antibodies to this enzyme in sera samples from guinea pigs with superficial fungal infections caused by M. canis. Of sera samples from guinea pigs infected with M. canis, 75% were reactive within 10 weeks, however, those ELISA values were relatively low compared with those from guinea pigs immunized with KPase. The presence of circulating antibodies was first detected 2 weeks post inoculation with M. canis, corresponding to the period when the lesions were most severe. The titers of the ELISA antibodies reached a peak at 4 weeks; at that time the lesions had disappeared completely.