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Elucidation of the role of gut microbiota in the metabolism of orally administered drugs may improve therapeutic effectiveness and contribute to the development of personalized medicine. In this study, ten different artificial gut microbiota (AGM), obtained by culturing fecal samples in a continuous fermentation system, were challenged for their metabolizing capacity on a panel of six glucocorticoids selected from either prodrugs or drugs. Data from metabolic stability assays highlighted that, while the hydrolysis-mediated conversion of prodrugs to drugs represented only a minor metabolic pathway, significant differences in the stability of parent compounds and in their conversion rates to multiple reductive metabolites were obtained for the selected drugs. In the latter case, a taxonomic composition-dependent ability to convert parent drugs to metabolites was observed. Indeed, the artificial microbial communities dominated by the genus Bacteroides showed the maximal conversion of parent glucocorticoids to several metabolites. Furthermore, the effect of drugs on AGM was also evaluated through shallow shotgun sequencing and flow cytometry-based total bacterial cell count highlighting that these drugs can affect both the taxonomic composition and growth performances of the human gut microbiota., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

As a traceless, bioreversible modification, the esterification of carboxyl groups in peptides and proteins has the potential to increase their clinical utility. An impediment is the lack of strategies to quantify esterase-catalyzed hydrolysis rates for esters in esterified biologics. We have developed a continuous Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) assay for esterase activity based on a peptidic substrate and a protease, Glu-C, that cleaves a glutamyl peptide bond only if the glutamyl side chain is a free acid. Using pig liver esterase (PLE) and human carboxylesterases, we validated the assay with substrates containing simple esters ( e.g. , ethyl) and esters designed to be released by self-immolation upon quinone methide elimination. We found that simple esters were not cleaved by esterases, likely for steric reasons. To account for the relatively low rate of quinone methide elimination, we extended the mathematics of the traditional Michaelis-Menten model to conclude with a first-order intermediate decay step. By exploring two regimes of our substrate → intermediate → product (SIP) model, we evaluated the rate constants for the PLE-catalyzed cleavage of an ester on a glutamyl side chain ( k cat / K M = 1.63 × 10 3 M -1 s -1 ) and subsequent spontaneous quinone methide elimination to regenerate the unmodified peptide ( k I = 0.00325 s -1 ; t 1/2 = 3.55 min). The detection of esterase activity was also feasible in the human intestinal S9 fraction. Our assay and SIP model increase the understanding of the release kinetics of esterified biologics and facilitate the rational design of efficacious peptide prodrugs.

The irregular expression or activity of enzymes in the human body leads to various pathological disorders and can therefore be used as an intrinsic trigger for more precise identification of disease foci and controlled release of diagnostics and therapeutics, leading to improved diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and therapeutic efficacy while reducing systemic toxicity. Advanced synthesis strategies enable the preparation of polymers with enzymatically activatable skeletons or side chains, while understanding enzymatically responsive mechanisms promotes rational incorporation of activatable units and predictions of the release profile of diagnostics and therapeutics, ultimately leading to promising applications in disease diagnosis and treatment with superior biocompatibility and efficiency. By overcoming the challenges, new opportunities will emerge to inspire researchers to develop more efficient, safer, and clinically reliable enzymatically activatable polymeric carriers as well as prodrugs., (© 2023 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

In this Review, we explore natural product antibiotics that do more than simply inhibit an active site of an essential enzyme. We review these compounds to provide inspiration for the design of much-needed new antibacterial agents, and examine the complex mechanisms that have evolved to effectively target bacteria, including covalent binders, inhibitors of resistance, compounds that utilize self-promoted entry, those that evade resistance, prodrugs, target corrupters, inhibitors of 'undruggable' targets, compounds that form supramolecular complexes, and selective membrane-acting agents. These are exemplified by β-lactams that bind covalently to inhibit transpeptidases and β-lactamases, siderophore chimeras that hijack import mechanisms to smuggle antibiotics into the cell, compounds that are activated by bacterial enzymes to produce reactive molecules, and antibiotics such as aminoglycosides that corrupt, rather than merely inhibit, their targets. Some of these mechanisms are highly sophisticated, such as the preformed β-strands of darobactins that target the undruggable β-barrel chaperone BamA, or teixobactin, which binds to a precursor of peptidoglycan and then forms a supramolecular structure that damages the membrane, impeding the emergence of resistance. Many of the compounds exhibit more than one notable feature, such as resistance evasion and target corruption. Understanding the surprising complexity of the best antimicrobial compounds provides a roadmap for developing novel compounds to address the antimicrobial resistance crisis by mining for new natural products and inspiring us to design similarly sophisticated antibiotics., (© 2024. Springer Nature Limited.)

This study introduces the α-rhamnose (Rham)-conjugated prodrug of SN-38 (Rham-SN-38) as a promising alternative to irinotecan. α-rhamnosidase, responsible for SN-38 release from Rham-SN-38, does not express in human cells, minimizing individual variability and side effects. The injection of the α-rhamnosidase into the tumor tissues makes it possible, for the first time, to activate the Rham-SN-38. Furthermore, α-rhamnosidase demonstrates significantly higher activity than carboxylesterase, the specific enzyme activating irinotecan. SN-38 release mediated by α-rhamnosidase completes within 2 h, with a k cat /K m value approximately 5.0 × 10 4 -fold higher than that of irinotecan. The 50% inhibition concentration (IC 50 ) of Rham-SN-38 against three types of cancer cells and one normal cell exceeds 4.5 × 10 3  nM. The addition of α-rhamnosidase significantly increases cytotoxicity, with IC 50 comparable to free SN-38. The QIC 50 , an index reflecting the difference in cytotoxicity with and without α-rhamnosidase, exceeds approximately 1.0 × 10 2 -fold. Rham-SN-38, synthesized in this study, demonstrates significant potential as a prodrug for cancer therapy., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry.)

6-Thioguanine (6TG) is a clinically used antitumor agent that was rationally designed as a DNA-targeting antimetabolite, but it also occurs naturally. 6TG is a critical virulence factor produced by Erwinia amylovorans, a notorious plant pathogen that causes fire blight of pome fruit trees. The biosynthesis of the rare thioamide metabolite involves an adenylating enzyme (YcfA) and a sulfur-mobilizing enzyme (YcfC), but the mechanism of sulfur transfer and putative intermediates have remained elusive. Through dissection and in vitro reconstitution of the thionation process using diverse substrates, we uncover an intermediate, prodrug-like thio-conjugate and elucidate the precise enzyme functions. YcfA not only adenylates GMP but also transfers the mercapto group of l-cysteine to the activated carbonyl. A designated C-S lyase (YcfC) then cleaves the resulting S-adduct to yield the thioamide. This pathway is distinct from canonical tRNA sulfur modifications and known enzymatic peptide thionations. By exploring a wide range of substrate surrogates, we exploited the tolerance of the enzyme pair to produce even a seleno analog. This study provides valuable insight into a previously unexplored area of bacterial thioamide formation and lays the groundwork for synthetic biology approaches to produce thioamide antimetabolites., (© 2024 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Hypoxia is a state characterized by low concentration of Oxygen. Hypoxic state is often found in the central region of solid tumors. Hypoxia is associated with abnormal neovascularization resulted in poor blood flow in tissues and increased proliferation of tumor cells, imbalance between O 2 supply and O 2 consumption in tumor cells, high concentration of proton and strong reducibility. And, these abnormalities enhance the survival potency of the hypoxic tumours and increase the resistance towards chemotherapy and radiotherapy. One of the approach for treating hypoxic region of tumour is to use reducing environment of hypoxic tumours for reducing a molecule (hypoxia activated prodrug, HAP) and as a result the active drug will be released in hypoxic region in a controlled manner from the prodrug and kill the hypoxic tumour. Co(III) and Pt(IV) complexes with monodentate active drug molecule in the axial position can be reduced to Co(II) and Pt(II) moieties and as a result, the axial ligands (active drug) could come out from the metal center and could show its anticancer activity. In this review we have highlighted the research articles where transition metal-based complexes are used as chemotherapeutic hypoxia activated prodrug molecules which are reported in last 5 years., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Understanding the mechanisms by which drugs interact with cell membranes is crucial for unraveling the underlying biochemical and biophysical processes that occur on the surface of these membranes. Our research focused on studying the interaction between an ester-type derivative of tristearoyl uridine and model cell membranes composed of lipid monolayers at the air-water interface. For that, we selected a specific lipid to simulate nontumorigenic cell membranes, namely 1,2-dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine. We noted significant changes in the surface pressure-area isotherms, with a noticeable shift towards larger areas, which was lower than expected for ideal mixtures, indicating monolayer condensation. Furthermore, the viscoelastic properties of the interfacial film demonstrated an increase in both the elastic and viscous parameters for the mixed film. We also observed structural alterations using vibrational spectroscopy, which revealed an increase in the all-trans to gauche conformers ratio. This confirmed the stiffening effect of the prodrug on the lipid monolayer. In summary, this study indicates that this lipophilic prodrug significantly impacts the lipid monolayer's thermodynamic, rheological, electrical, and molecular characteristics. This information is crucial for understanding how the drug interacts with specific sites on the cellular membrane. It also has implications for drug delivery, as the drug's passage into the cytosol may involve traversing the lipid bilayer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Central nervous system tumors have resisted effective chemotherapy because most therapeutics do not penetrate the blood-tumor-brain-barrier. Nanomedicines between  ~ 10 and 100 nm accumulate in many solid tumors by the enhanced permeability and retention effect, but it is controversial whether the effect can be exploited for treatment of brain tumors. PLX038A is a long-acting prodrug of the topoisomerase 1 inhibitor SN-38. It is composed of a 15 nm 4-arm 40 kDa PEG tethered to four SN-38 moieties by linkers that slowly cleave to release the SN-38. The prodrug was remarkably effective at suppressing growth of intracranial breast cancer and glioblastoma (GBM), significantly increasing the life span of mice harboring them. We addressed the important issue of whether the prodrug releases SN-38 systemically and then penetrates the brain to exert anti-tumor effects, or whether it directly penetrates the blood-tumor-brain-barrier and releases the SN-38 cargo within the tumor. We argue that the amount of SN-38 formed systemically is insufficient to inhibit the tumors, and show by PET imaging that a close surrogate of the 40 kDa PEG carrier in PLX038A accumulates and is retained in the GBM. We conclude that the prodrug penetrates the blood-tumor-brain-barrier, accumulates in the tumor microenvironment and releases its SN-38 cargo from within. Based on our results, we pose the provocative question as to whether the 40 kDa nanomolecule PEG carrier might serve as a "Trojan horse" to carry other drugs past the blood-tumor-brain-barrier and release them into brain tumors., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Bacterial nitroreductase enzymes capable of activating imaging probes and prodrugs are valuable tools for gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapies and targeted cell ablation models. We recently engineered a nitroreductase ( E. coli NfsB F70A/F108Y) for the substantially enhanced reduction of the 5-nitroimidazole PET-capable probe, SN33623, which permits the theranostic imaging of vectors labeled with oxygen-insensitive bacterial nitroreductases. This mutant enzyme also shows improved activation of the DNA-alkylation prodrugs CB1954 and metronidazole. To elucidate the mechanism behind these enhancements, we resolved the crystal structure of the mutant enzyme to 1.98 Å and compared it to the wild-type enzyme. Structural analysis revealed an expanded substrate access channel and new hydrogen bonding interactions. Additionally, computational modeling of SN33623, CB1954, and metronidazole binding in the active sites of both the mutant and wild-type enzymes revealed key differences in substrate orientations and interactions, with improvements in activity being mirrored by reduced distances between the N5-H of isoalloxazine and the substrate nitro group oxygen in the mutant models. These findings deepen our understanding of nitroreductase substrate specificity and catalytic mechanisms and have potential implications for developing more effective theranostic imaging strategies in cancer treatment.

Both intrinsic and extrinsic aging lead to a series of morphological changes in the skin including the flattening of the dermal-epidermal junction, increased stratum corneum dryness, reduction in sebaceous gland activity and enzyme activity as well as atrophy of blood vessels. In this study, the impact of these changes on the transport of molecules through the skin was revised. The increase in the number of transdermal formulations on the market in recent decades and life expectancy represent the main reasons for an in-depth discussion of this topic. Furthermore, elderly subjects have often been excluded from clinical trials due to polypharmacy, raising concerns in terms of efficacy and safety. In this way, ex vivo and in vivo studies comparing the transport of molecules through the mature and young skin were analyzed in detail. The reduced water content in mature skin had a significant impact on the transport rate of hydrophilic molecules. The lower enzymatic activity in aged skin, in turn, would explain changes in the activation of prodrugs. Interestingly, greater deposition of nanoparticles was also found in mature skin. In vivo models should be prioritized in future experimental studies as they allow to evaluate both absorption and metabolism simultaneously, providing more realistic information., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The yeast glucose-induced degradation-deficient (GID) E3 ubiquitin ligase forms a suite of complexes with interchangeable receptors that selectively recruit N-terminal degron motifs of metabolic enzyme substrates. The orthologous higher eukaryotic C-terminal to LisH (CTLH) E3 complex has been proposed to also recognize substrates through an alternative subunit, WDR26, which promotes the formation of supramolecular CTLH E3 assemblies. Here, we discover that human WDR26 binds the metabolic enzyme nicotinamide/nicotinic-acid-mononucleotide-adenylyltransferase 1 (NMNAT1) and mediates its CTLH E3-dependent ubiquitylation independently of canonical GID/CTLH E3-family substrate receptors. The CTLH subunit YPEL5 inhibits NMNAT1 ubiquitylation and cellular turnover by WDR26-CTLH E3, thereby affecting NMNAT1-mediated metabolic activation and cytotoxicity of the prodrug tiazofurin. Cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of NMNAT1- and YPEL5-bound WDR26-CTLH E3 complexes reveal an internal basic degron motif of NMNAT1 essential for targeting by WDR26-CTLH E3 and degron mimicry by YPEL5's N terminus antagonizing substrate binding. Thus, our data provide a mechanistic understanding of how YPEL5-WDR26-CTLH E3 acts as a modulator of NMNAT1-dependent metabolism., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests B.A.S. is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Proxygen and BioTheryX and a co-inventor of intellectual property licensed to Cinsano. P.J.M. is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Palleon Pharmaceuticals and ImCheck Pharma. These relationships have no bearing on or relevance to this work., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We assessed factors that determine the tissue-specific bioactivation of ProTide prodrugs by comparing the disposition and activation of remdesivir (RDV), its methylpropyl and isopropyl ester analogues (MeRDV and IsoRDV, respectively), the oral prodrug GS-621763, and the parent nucleotide GS-441524 (Nuc). RDV and MeRDV yielded more active metabolite remdesivir-triphosphate (RDV-TP) than IsoRDV, GS-621763, and Nuc in human lung cell models due to superior cell permeability and higher susceptivity to cathepsin A. Intravenous administration to mice showed that RDV and MeRDV delivered significantly more RDV-TP to the lung than other compounds. Nevertheless, all four ester prodrugs exhibited very low oral bioavailability (<2%), with Nuc being the predominant metabolite in blood. In conclusion, ProTides prodrugs, such as RDV and MeRDV, are more efficient in delivering active metabolites to the lung than Nuc, driven by high cell permeability and susceptivity to cathepsin A. Optimizing ProTides' ester structures is an effective strategy for enhancing prodrug activation in the lung.

Purpose: Olmesartan medoxomil (olmesartan-MX), an ester-type prodrug of the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) olmesartan, is predominantly anionic at intestinal pH. Human organic anion transporting polypeptide 2B1 (OATP2B1) is expressed in the small intestine and is involved in the absorption of various acidic drugs. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that OATP2B1-mediated uptake contributes to the enhanced intestinal absorption of olmesartan-MX, even though olmesartan itself is not a substrate of OATP2B1., Methods: Tetracycline-inducible human OATP2B1- and rat Oatp2b1-overexpressing HEK 293 cell lines (hOATP2B1/T-REx-293 and rOatp2b1/T-REx-293, respectively) were established to characterize OATP2B1-mediated uptake. Rat jejunal permeability was measured using Ussing chambers. ARBs were quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry., Results: Significant olmesartan-MX uptake was observed in hOATP2B1/T-REx-293 and rOatp2b1/T-REx-293 cells, whereas olmesartan uptake was undetectable or much lower than olmesartan-MX uptake, respectively. Furthermore, olmesartan-MX exhibited several-fold higher uptake in Caco-2 cells and greater permeability in rat jejunum compared to olmesartan. Olmesartan-MX uptake in hOATP2B1/T-REx-293 cells and in Caco-2 cells was significantly decreased by OATP2B1 substrates/inhibitors such as 1 mM estrone-3-sulfate, 100 µM rifamycin SV, and 100 µM fluvastatin. Rat Oatp2b1-mediated uptake and rat jejunal permeability of olmesartan-MX were significantly decreased by 50 µM naringin, an OATP2B1 inhibitor. Oral administration of olmesartan-MX with 50 µM naringin to rats significantly reduced the area under the plasma concentration-time curve of olmesartan to 76.9%., Conclusion: Olmesartan-MX is a substrate for OATP2B1, and the naringin-sensitive transport system contributes to the improved intestinal absorption of olmesartan-MX compared with its parent drug, olmesartan., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

E. coli nitroreductase A (NfsA) is a candidate for gene-directed prodrug cancer therapy using bioreductively activated nitroaromatic compounds (ArNO 2 ). In this work, we determined the standard redox potential of FMN of NfsA to be -215 ± 5 mV at pH 7.0. FMN semiquinone was not formed during 5-deazaflavin-sensitized NfsA photoreduction. This determines the two-electron character of the reduction of ArNO 2 and quinones (Q). In parallel, we characterized the oxidant specificity of NfsA with an emphasis on its structure. Except for negative outliers nitracrine and SN-36506, the reactivity of ArNO 2 increases with their electron affinity (single-electron reduction potential, E 1 7 ) and is unaffected by their lipophilicity and Van der Waals volume up to 386 Å. The reactivity of quinoidal oxidants is not clearly dependent on E 1 7 , but 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones were identified as positive outliers and a number of compounds with diverse structures as negative outliers. 2-Hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones are characterized by the most positive reaction activation entropy and the negative outlier tetramethyl-1,4-benzoquinone by the most negative. Computer modelling data showed that the formation of H bonds with Arg15, Arg133, and Ser40, plays a major role in the binding of oxidants to reduced NfsA, while the role of the π-π interaction of their aromatic structures is less significant. Typically, the calculated hydride-transfer distances during ArNO 2 reduction are smallwer than for Q. This explains the lower reactivity of quinones. Another factor that slows down the reduction is the presence of positively charged aliphatic substituents.

Ferroptosis is a form of regulated cell death accompanied by lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in an iron-dependent manner. However, the efficiency of tumorous ferroptosis was seriously restricted by intracellular ferroptosis defense systems, the glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) system, and the ubiquinol (CoQH 2 ) system. Inspired by the crucial role of mitochondria in the ferroptosis process, we reported a prodrug nanoassembly capable of unleashing potent mitochondrial lipid peroxidation and ferroptotic cell death. Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) inhibitor (QA) was combined with triphenylphosphonium moiety through a disulfide-containing linker to engineer well-defined nanoassemblies (QSSP) within a single-molecular framework. After being trapped in cancer cells, the acidic condition provoked the structural disassembly of QSSP to liberate free prodrug molecules. The mitochondrial membrane-potential-driven accumulation of the lipophilic cation prodrug was delivered explicitly into the mitochondria. Afterward, the thiol-disulfide exchange would occur accompanied by downregulation of reduced glutathione levels, thus resulting in mitochondria-localized GPX4 inactivation for ferroptosis. Simultaneously, the released QA from the hydrolysis reaction of the adjacent ester bond could further devastate mitochondrial defense and evoke robust ferroptosis via the DHODH-CoQH 2 system. This subcellular targeted nanoassembly provides a reference for designing ferroptosis-based strategy for efficient cancer therapy through interfering antiferroptosis systems.

Necrosis is a common feature of solid tumours that offers a unique opportunity for targeted cancer therapy as it is absent from normal healthy tissues. Tumour necrosis provides an ideal environment for germination of the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium from endospores, resulting in tumour-specific colonisation. Two main species, Clostridium novyi-NT and Clostridium sporogenes, are at the forefront of this therapy, showing promise in preclinical models. However, anti-tumour activity is modest when used as a single agent, encouraging development of Clostridium as a tumour-selective gene delivery system. Various methods, such as allele-coupled exchange and CRISPR-cas9 technology, can facilitate the genetic modification of Clostridium, allowing chromosomal integration of transgenes to ensure long-term stability of expression. Strains of Clostridium can be engineered to express prodrug-activating enzymes, resulting in the generation of active drug selectively in the tumour microenvironment (a concept termed Clostridium-directed enzyme prodrug therapy). More recently, Clostridium strains have been investigated in the context of cancer immunotherapy, either in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors or with engineered strains expressing immunomodulatory molecules such as IL-2 and TNF-α. Localised expression of these molecules using tumour-targeting Clostridium strains has the potential to improve delivery and reduce systemic toxicity. In summary, Clostridium species represent a promising platform for cancer therapy, with potential for localised gene delivery and immunomodulation selectively within the tumour microenvironment. The ongoing clinical progress being made with C. novyi-NT, in addition to developments in genetic modification techniques and non-invasive imaging capabilities, are expected to further progress Clostridium as an option for cancer treatment., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Various tenofovir (TFV) prodrugs have been developed by introducing masking groups to the hydroxyls of the monophosphonate group to enhance intestinal absorption efficiency and therapeutic effects. However, the reported TFV prodrugs have drawbacks such as low bioavailability, systemic toxicity caused by their breakdown in non-targeted tissues, and potential low intracellular conversion efficiency. In the present study, we developed a class of TFV monobenzyl ester phosphonoamidate prodrugs without substitutions on the benzene ring. Compared with previous TFV prodrugs, compounds 3a and 3b developed in the present study showed higher anti-hepatitis B virus activity, stronger stability and higher levels of intrahepatic enrichment of the metabolic product (TFV), indicating the potential of these compounds as novel prodrugs with high efficiency and low systemic toxicity for the treatment of hepatitis B., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Suicide gene therapy involves introducing viral or bacterial genes into tumor cells, which enables the conversion of a nontoxic prodrug into a toxic-lethal drug. The application of the bacterial cytosine deaminase (bCD)/5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) approach has been beneficial and progressive within the current field of cancer therapy because of the enhanced bystander effect. The basis of this method is the preferential deamination of 5-FC to 5-fluorouracil by cancer cells expressing cytosine deaminase (CD), which strongly inhibits DNA synthesis and RNA function, effectively targeting tumor cells. However, the poor binding affinity of toward 5-FC compared to the natural substrate cytosine and/or inappropriate thermostability limits the clinical applications of this gene therapy approach. Nowadays, many genetic engineering studies have been carried out to solve and improve the activity of this enzyme. In the current review, we intend to discuss the biotechnological aspects of Escherichia coli CD, including its structure, functions, molecular cloning, and protein engineering. We will also explore its relevance in cancer clinical trials. By examining these aspects, we hope to provide a thorough understanding of E. coli CD and its potential applications in cancer therapy., (© 2023 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.)

1. Carboxylesterase (CES) has been studied extensively, mostly with substrates in the monoester structures. We investigated the relationship between indomethacin diester prodrugs and metabolic activation by microsomes and recombinant human CES.2. Eight indomethacin diester prodrugs were synthesised in two steps. They were used as substrates and hydrolysis rates were calculated.3. As a result, the major hydrolysis enzyme was CES. The hydrolysis rate of recombinant CES2A1 was comparable to that of recombinant CES1A1.4. In this study, by changing the structure of the prodrug to a diester structure, it was found that CES2 activity was equivalent to CES1 activity.5. It should be noted that the use of diester prodrugs in prodrug discovery, where organ-specific hydrolysis reactions are expected, may not yield the expected results.

Remdesivir (RDV) and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) are prodrugs designed to be converted to their respective active metabolites. Plasma protein binding (PPB) determination of these prodrugs is important for patients with possible alteration of free fraction of the drugs due to plasma protein changes in renal impairment, hepatic impairment, or pregnancy. However, the prodrugs' instability in human plasma presents a challenge for accurate PPB determination. In this research work, two approaches were used in the method development and qualification for PPB assessment of RDV and TAF. For RDV, dichlorvos was used to inhibit esterase activity to stabilize the prodrug in plasma during equilibrium dialysis (ED). The impact of dichlorvos on protein binding was evaluated and determined to be insignificant by comparing the unbound fraction (f u ) determined by the ED method with dichlorvos present and the f u determined by an ultrafiltration method without dichlorvos. In contrast to RDV, TAF degradation in plasma is ∼3-fold slower, and TAF stability cannot be improved by dichlorvos. Fit-for-purpose acceptance criteria for the TAF PPB method were chosen, and an ED method was developed based on these criteria. These two methods were then qualified and applied for PPB determinations in clinical studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 American Pharmacists Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy is an emerging strategy for cancer treatment based on the delivery of a gene that encodes an enzyme that is able to convert a prodrug into a potent cytotoxin exclusively in target cancer cells. However, it is limited by the lack of suitable enzyme variants and a scarce choice of chemical bonds that could be activated. Therefore, this study is aimed to determine the capability of bacterial amidohydrolases YqfB and D8&#95;RL to activate novel prodrugs and the effect such system has on the viability of eukaryotic cancer cells. We have established cancer cell lines that stably express the bacterial amidohydrolase genes and selected several N4-acylated cytidine derivatives as potential prodrugs. A significant decrease in the viability of HCT116 human colon cancer cell lines expressing either the YqfB or the D8&#95;RL was observed after exposure to the novel prodrugs. The data we acquired suggests that bacterial YqfB and D8&#95;RL amidohydrolases, together with the modified cytidine-based prodrugs, may serve as a promising enzyme-prodrug system for gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Preitakaitė et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Activation of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells with butyrophilin 3A1 (BTN3A1) agonists such as ( E )-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl diphosphate (HMBPP) has the potential to boost the immune response. Because HMBPP is highly charged and metabolically unstable, prodrugs may be needed to overcome these liabilities, but the prodrugs themselves may be limited by slow payload release or low plasma stability. To identify effective prodrug forms of a phosphonate agonist of BTN3A1, we have prepared a set of diesters bearing one aryl and one acyloxymethyl group. The compounds were evaluated for their ability to stimulate Vγ9Vδ2 T cell proliferation, increase production of interferon γ, resist plasma metabolism, and internalize into leukemia cells. These bioassays have revealed that varied aryl and acyloxymethyl groups can decouple plasma and cellular metabolism and have a significant impact on bioactivity (>200-fold range) and stability (>10 fold range), including some with subnanomolar potency. Our findings increase the understanding of the structure-activity relationships of mixed aryl/acyloxymethyl phosphonate prodrugs.

Purpose: The objective of this work was to demonstrate that clinical OAT1-mediated DDIs can be predicted using physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling., Methods: LY404039 is a metabotropic glutamate receptor 2/3 agonist and the active moiety of the prodrug pomaglumetad methionil (LY2140023). After oral administration, pomaglumetad methionil is rapidly taken up by enterocytes via PEPT1 and once absorbed, converted to LY404039 via membrane dehydropeptidase 1 (DPEP1). LY404039 is renally excreted by both glomerular filtration and active secretion and in vitro studies showed that the active secretion of LY404039 was mediated by the organic anion transporter 1 (OAT1). Both clinical and in vitro data were used to build a PBPK model to predict OAT1-mediated DDIs., Results: In vitro inhibitory potencies (IC 50 ) of the known OAT inhibitors, probenecid and ibuprofen, were determined to be 4.00 and 2.63 µM, respectively. Subsequently, clinical drug-drug interaction (DDI) study showed probenecid reduced the renal clearance of LY404039 by 30 to 40%. The PBPK bottom-up model, predicted a renal clearance that was approximately 20% lower than the observed one. The middle-out model, using an OAT1 relative activity factor (RAF) of 3, accurately reproduced the renal clearance of LY404039 and pharmacokinetic (PK) changes of LY404039 in the presence of probenecid., Conclusions: OAT1- mediated DDIs can be predicted using in vitro measured IC 50 and PBPK modeling. The effect of ibuprofen was predicted to be minimal (AUC ratio of 1.15) and not clinically relevant., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Ultrasound, featuring deep tissue penetration and noninvasiveness, offers a new opportunity to activate functional materials in a tumor-selective manner. However, very few direct ultrasound-responsive redox systems are applicable under therapeutic ultrasound (1 MHz). Herein, the investigations on nanoprodrug of DHE@PEG-SS-DSPE are reported, which exhibit glutathione-activated release of dihydroethidium (DHE) in tumor cells. DHE is stable with good biosafety and is transformed into cytotoxic ethidium to induce DNA damage under medical ultrasound irradiation, accompanied by the generation of reactive oxygen species. Further, DHE@PEG-SS-DSPE could effectively induce ferroptosis through glutathione depletion, lipid peroxide accumulation, and downregulation of glutathione peroxidase 4. In vivo studies confirmed that DHE@PEG-SS-DSPE nanoparticles effectively inhibit both the growth of solid tumors and the expression of metastasis-related proteins in mice, thus effectively inhibiting lung metastasis. This DHE-based prodrug nanosystem could lay a foundation for the design of ultrasound-driven therapeutic agents., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Retroviral replicating vectors (RRVs) selectively replicate and can specifically introduce prodrug-activating genes into tumor cells, whereby subsequent prodrug administration induces the death of the infected tumor cells. We assessed the ability of two distinct RRVs generated from amphotropic murine leukemia virus (AMLV) and gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV), which infect cells via type-III sodium-dependent phosphate transporters, PiT-2 and PiT-1, respectively, to infect human gastric cancer (GC) cells. A quantitative RT-PCR showed that all tested GC cell lines had higher expression levels of PiT-2 than PiT-1. Accordingly, AMLV, encoding a green fluorescent protein gene, infected and replicated more efficiently than GALV in most GC cell lines, whereas both RRVs had a low infection rate in human fibroblasts. RRV encoding a cytosine deaminase prodrug activator gene, which converts the prodrug 5-flucytosine (5-FC) to the active drug 5-fluorouracil, showed that AMLV promoted superior 5-FC-induced cytotoxicity compared with GALV, which correlated with the viral receptor expression level and viral spread. In MKN-74 subcutaneous xenograft models, AMLV had significant antitumor effects compared with GALV. Furthermore, in the MKN-74 recurrent tumor model in which 5-FC was discontinued, the resumption of 5-FC administration reduced the tumor volume. Thus, RRV-mediated prodrug activator gene therapy might be beneficial for treating human GC.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) represents a natural polysaccharide which has attracted significant attention owing to its improved tumor targeting capacity, enzyme degradation capacity, and excellent biocompatibility. Its receptors, such as CD44, are overexpressed in diverse cancer cells and are closely related with tumor progress and metastasis. Accordingly, numerous researchers have designed various kinds of HA-based drug delivery platforms for CD44-mediated tumor targeting. Specifically, the HA-based nanoprodrugs possess distinct advantages such as good bioavailability, long circulation time, and controlled drug release and retention ability and have been extensively studied during the past years. In this review, the potential strategies and applications of HA-modified nanoprodrugs for drug molecule delivery in anti-tumor therapy are summarized., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All the authors affirm no conflict of interest in this work., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Dabigatran etexilate (DABE), a double ester prodrug of dabigatran, is a probe substrate of intestinal P-glycoprotein (P-gp) commonly used in clinical drug-drug interaction (DDI) studies. When compared with its therapeutic dose at 150 mg, microdose DABE (375 µg) showed approximately 2-fold higher in DDI magnitudes with CYP3A/P-gp inhibitors. In this study, we conducted several in vitro metabolism studies to demonstrate that DABE, at a theoretical gut concentration after microdosing, significantly underwent NADPH-dependent oxidation (~40%-50%) in parallel to carboxylesterase-mediated hydrolysis in human intestinal microsomes. Furthermore, NADPH-dependent metabolism of its intermediate monoester, BIBR0951, was also observed in both human intestinal and liver microsomes, accounting for 100% and 50% of total metabolism, respectively. Metabolite profiling using high resolution mass spectrometry confirmed the presence of several novel oxidative metabolites of DABE and of BIBR0951 in the NADPH-fortified incubations. CYP3A was identified as the major enzyme catalyzing the oxidation of both compounds. The metabolism of DABE and BIBR0951 was well described by Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with K m ranging 1-3 µM, significantly below the expected concentrations following the therapeutic dose of DABE. Overall, the present results suggested that CYP3A played a significant role in the presystemic metabolism of DABE and BIBR0951 following microdose DABE administration, thus attributing partly to the apparent overestimation in the DDI magnitude observed with the CYP3A/P-gp inhibitors. Therefore, DABE at the microdose, unlike the therapeutic dose, would likely be a less predictive tool and should be considered as a clinical dual substrate for P-gp and CYP3A when assessing potential P-gp-mediated impacts by dual CYP3A/P-gp inhibitors. SIGNIFICANT STATEMENT: This is the first study demonstrating a potentially significant role of cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism of the prodrug DABE following a microdose but not a therapeutic dose. This additional pathway, coupled with its susceptibility to P-glycoprotein (P-gp), may make DABE a clinical dual substrate for both P-gp and CYP3A at a microdose. The study also highlights the need for better characterization of the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of a clinical drug-drug interaction probe substrate over the intended study dose range for proper result interpretations., (Copyright © 2023 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.)

The side effects of common chemotherapeutic drugs that damage healthy tissues account for one of the most important problems in cancer research that needs careful addressing. Bacterial-Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy (BDEPT) is a promising strategy that uses bacteria to direct a converting enzyme to the tumor site and activate a systemically injected prodrug selectively within the tumor; so that the side effects of the therapy would significantly decrease. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of baicalin, a natural compound, as a glucuronide prodrug in association with an engineered strain of Escherichia coli DH5α harboring the pRSETB-lux/βG plasmid in a mouse model of colorectal cancer. E. coli DH5α-lux/βG was designed to emit luminescence, and overexpress the β-glucuronidase. Unlike the non-engineered bacteria, E. coli DH5α-lux/βG showed the ability to activate baicalin, and the cytotoxic effects of baicalin on the C26 cell line were increased in the presence of E. coli DH5α-lux/βG. Analyzing the tissue homogenates of mice bearing C26 tumors inoculated with E. coli DH5α-lux/βG indicated the specific accumulation and multiplication of bacteria in the tumor tissues. While both baicalin and E. coli DH5α-lux/βG could inhibit tumor growth as monotherapy, an enhanced inhibition was observed when animals were subjected to combination therapy. Moreover, no significant side effects were observed after histological investigation. The results of this study indicate that baicalin has the capability of being used as a suitable prodrug in the BDEPT, however further research is required before it can be applied in the clinic., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fluphenazine (FPZ) decanoate, an ester-type prodrug formulated as a long-acting injection (LAI), is used in the treatment of schizophrenia. FPZ enanthate was also developed as an LAI formulation, but is no longer in use clinically because of the short elimination half-life of FPZ, the parent drug, after intramuscular injection. In the present study, the hydrolysis of FPZ prodrugs was evaluated in human plasma and liver to clarify the reason for this difference in elimination half-lives. FPZ prodrugs were hydrolyzed in human plasma and liver microsomes. The rate of hydrolysis of FPZ enanthate in human plasma and liver microsomes was 15-fold and 6-fold, respectively, faster than that of FPZ decanoate. Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and human serum albumin (HSA) present in human plasma, and two carboxylesterase (CES) isozymes, hCE1 and hCE2, expressed in ubiquitous organs including liver, were mainly responsible for the hydrolysis of FPZ prodrugs. FPZ prodrugs may not be bioconverted in human skeletal muscle at the injection site because of lack of expression of BChE and CESs in muscle. Interestingly, although FPZ was a poor substrate for human P-glycoprotein, FPZ caproate was a good substrate. In conclusion, it is suggested that the shorter elimination half-life of FPZ following administration of FPZ enanthate compared with FPZ decanoate can be attributed to the more rapid hydrolysis of FPZ enanthate by BChE, HSA and CESs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 American Pharmacists Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs) are the first sites where tumor components reach and dendritic cells (DCs) present tumor-associated antigens to T cells. DCs rely on autophagy to process tumor antigens into epitope peptides to form epitope-MHC complexes. Selective delivery of autophagy-stimulating drugs to TDLNs may be a precise strategy to boost chemotherapy-induced antitumor immunity. Here, a multistage stimulating strategy is proposed to activate the antitumor immunity cascade by inducing immunogenic death of tumor cells and elevating antigen presentation of DCs in TDLNs. A tumor-microenvironment-responsive "albumin-hitchhiking" micelle is established by self-assembling tumor-targeting oxaliplatin prodrug and lipophilized trehalose prodrug. This demonstrates that lipophilic modification of trehalose with a DSPE tail and the precise exposure in the tumor site enhances its binding to endogenous albumin and realizes TDLNs-selective reflux, where it upregulates antigen processing and presentation of DCs. This study introduces an approach for targeted delivery to TDLNs and provides insights into mechanisms of autophagy in tumor-specific immunity., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the global leading causes of death due to a single infectious agent. Pretomanid and delamanid are new antitubercular agents that have progressed through the drug discovery pipeline. These compounds are bicyclic nitroimidazoles that act as pro-drugs, requiring activation by a mycobacterial enzyme; however, the precise mechanisms of action of the active metabolite(s) are unclear. Here, we identify a molecular target of activated pretomanid and delamanid: the DprE2 subunit of decaprenylphosphoribose-2'-epimerase, an enzyme required for the synthesis of cell wall arabinogalactan. We also provide evidence for an NAD-adduct as the active metabolite of pretomanid. Our results highlight DprE2 as a potential antimycobacterial target and provide a foundation for future exploration into the active metabolites and clinical development of pretomanid and delamanid., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

GPR35, a class A G-protein-coupled receptor, is considered an orphan receptor; the endogenous ligand and precise physiological function of GPR35 remain obscure. GPR35 is expressed relatively highly in the gastrointestinal tract and immune cells. It plays a role in colorectal diseases like inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) and colon cancer. More recently, the development of GPR35 targeting anti-IBD drugs is in solid request. Nevertheless, the development process is in stagnation due to the lack of a highly potent GPR35 agonist that is also active comparably in both human and mouse orthologs. Therefore, we proposed to find compounds for GPR35 agonist development, especially for the human ortholog of GPR35. As an efficient way to pick up a safe and effective GPR35 targeting anti-IBD drug, we screened Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved 1850 drugs using a two-step DMR assay. Interestingly, we found aminosalicylates, first-line medicine for IBDs whose precise target remains unknown, exhibited activity on both human and mouse GPR35. Among these, pro-drug olsalazine showed the most potency on GPR35 agonism, inducing ERK phosphorylation and β-arrestin2 translocation. In dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis, the protective effect on disease progression and inhibitory effect on TNFα mRNA expression, NF-κB and JAK-STAT3 pathway of olsalazine are compromised in GPR35 knock-out mice. The present study identified a target for first-line medicine aminosalicylates, highlighted that uncleaved pro-drug olsalazine is effective, and provided a new concept for the design of aminosalicylic GPR35 targeting anti-IBD drug., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Octahedral Pt IV complexes are considered highly promising candidates for overcoming some shortcomings of clinically approved Pt II drugs. Pt IV compounds, owing to their inertia, appear to be capable of resisting premature aquation and undesired binding to essential plasma proteins and have shown remarkable potential for both oral administration and for reducing side effects. Additionally, their pharmacological properties can be finely tuned by choosing appropriate axial ligands. The reduction inside the cell by biological reducing agents to the correponding active cytotoxic Pt II species, accompanied by the loss of the axial ligands, is considered an essential step of their mechanism and has been extensively studied. However, a detailed understanding of the mechanism by which Pt IV prodrugs are activated, which should be highly beneficial for their proper design, is lacking, and many contradictory results continue to be collected. In the hope of contributing to the advancement of knowledge in this field, this perspective focuses on the insights gained from computational studies carried out with the aim of finding answers to the many still open questions concerning the reduction of Pt IV complexes in biological environments.

Objective: AST-3424 is a novel specific aldo-keto reductase 1C3 (AKR1C3) prodrug that releases a DNA alkylating reagent upon reduction by AKR1C3. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of AST-3424 in patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDTX) model and orthotopic model against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)., Materials and Method: PDTX models derived from three HCC patients and orthotopic mice models using HepG2 cells were developed. The mice were treated with AST-3424 alone or combined with other drugs (oxaliplatin, apatinib, sorafenib and elemene in PDTX models, oxaliplatin and 5- fluorouracil in orthotopic models). The tumor volume and weight, as well as the mice weight were assessed. The liver tumor and transplanted tumor were removed for histological, immunohistochemical and Western blot detection in orthotopic model experiments., Results: AST-3424 could inhibit tumor growth in HCC PDTX models and orthotopic models, with no difference in safety compared with other marketed drugs, and the drug combination did not increase toxicity. The inhibitory effect of combination treatment was more obvious than which used alone. The reduction of AKR1C3 expression was negatively correlated with AST-3424 dose., Conclusion: AST-3424 had a promising effect against HCC in PDTX model and orthotopic model with good safety. It could promote the sensitivity of other drugs without increasing toxicity. Clinical trials are warranted to further certify its antitumor effect and safety., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Sodium fluoroacetate (FA) is a metabolic poison that systemically inhibits the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, causing energy deficiency and ultimately multi-organ failure. It poses a significant threat to society because of its high toxicity, potential use as a chemical weapon and lack of effective antidotal therapy. In this study, we investigated cell-permeable succinate prodrugs as potential treatment for acute FA intoxication. We hypothesized that succinate prodrugs would bypass FA-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, provide metabolic support, and prevent metabolic crisis during acute FA intoxication. To test this hypothesis, rats were exposed to FA (0.75 mg/kg) and treated with the succinate prodrug candidate NV354. Treatment efficacy was evaluated based on cardiac and cerebral mitochondrial respiration, mitochondrial content, metabolic profiles and tissue pathology. In the heart, FA increased concentrations of the TCA metabolite citrate (+ 4.2-fold, p < 0.01) and lowered ATP levels (- 1.9-fold, p < 0.001), confirming the inhibition of the TCA cycle by FA. High-resolution respirometry of cardiac mitochondria further revealed an impairment of mitochondrial complex V (CV)-linked metabolism, as evident by a reduced phosphorylation system control ratio (- 41%, p < 0.05). The inhibition of CV-linked metabolism is a novel mechanism of FA cardiac toxicity, which has implications for drug development and which NV354 was unable to counteract at the given dose. In the brain, FA induced the accumulation of β-hydroxybutyrate (+ 1.4-fold, p < 0.05) and the reduction of mitochondrial complex I (CI)-linked oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS CI ) (- 20%, p < 0.01), the latter of which was successfully alleviated by NV354. This promising effect of NV354 warrants further investigations to determine its potential neuroprotective effects., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The liver plays a very important role in physiological processes of the human body. Liver regeneration has developed into an important area of study in liver disease. The Mtz (metronidazole)/NTR (nitroreductase)-mediated cell ablation system has been widely used to study the processes and mechanisms of liver injury and regeneration. However, high concentrations and toxic side effects of Mtz severely limit the application of the Mtz/NTR system. Therefore, screening new analogs to replace Mtz has become an important means to optimize the NTR ablation system. In this study, we screened five Mtz analogs including furazolidone, ronidazole, ornidazole, nitromide, and tinidazole. We compared their toxicity on the transgenic fish line Tg(fabp10a: mCherry-NTR) and their specific ablation ability on liver cells. The results showed that Ronidazole at a lower concentration (2 mM) had the same ability to ablate liver cells comparable with that of Mtz (10 mM), almost without toxic side effects on juvenile fish. Further study found that zebrafish hepatocyte injury caused by the Ronidazole/NTR system achieved the same liver regenerative effect as the Mtz/NTR system. The above results show that Ronidazole can replace Mtz with NTR to achieve superior damage and ablation effects in zebrafish liver.

Caco-2 cells are widely used as an in vitro intestinal model. However, the expression levels of the drug-metabolizing enzymes CYP3A4 and UGT1A1 are lower in these cells than in intestinal cells. Furthermore, the majority of prodrugs in use today are ester-containing, and carboxylesterase (CES) 1 and CES2 are among the enzymes that process the prodrugs into drugs. In the human small intestine, CES1 is hardly expressed while CES2 is highly expressed, but the CES expression pattern in Caco-2 cells is the opposite. In this study, we generated CYP3A4-POR-UGT1A1-CES2 knock-in (KI) and CES1 knock-out (KO) Caco-2 (genome-edited Caco-2) cells using a PITCh system. Genome-edited Caco-2 cells were shown to express functional CYP3A4, POR, UGT1A1 and CES2 while the expression of the CES1 protein was completely knocked out. We performed transport assays using temocapril. The Papp value of temocapril in genome-edited Caco-2 cells was higher than that in WT Caco-2 cells. Interestingly, the amount of temocaprilat on the apical side in genome-edited Caco-2 cells was lower than that in WT Caco-2 cells. These results suggest that genome-edited Caco-2 cells are more suitable than WT Caco-2 cells as a model for predicting intestinal drug absorption and metabolism., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Japanese Society for the Study of Xenobiotics. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Mitochondria play a vital role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. In recent years, studies have found that mitochondria have an important role in the occurrence and development of tumors, and targeting mitochondria has become a new strategy for tumor treatment. Lonidamine (LND), as a hexokinase inhibitor, can block the energy supply and destroy mitochondria. However, poor water solubility and low mitochondrial selectivity limit its clinical application. To overcome these obstacles, we report redox-activated self-assembled carrier-free nanoparticles (Cy-TK-LND NPs) based on a small molecule prodrug, in which photosensitizer IR780 (Cy) which targets mitochondria is conjugated to LND via a sensitive thioketal (TK) linker. Intracellular oxidative stress induced by laser radiation leads to the responsive cleavage of Cy-TK-LND NPs, facilitating the release of free LND into mitochondria. Subsequently, LND damages mitochondria, triggering the apoptosis pathway. The results show the effective killing effect of Cy-TK-LND NPs on cancer cells in vitro and in vivo . The IC 50 value of irradiated Cy-TK-LND NPs is 5-fold lower than that of free LND. Moreover, tumor tissue section staining results demonstrate that irradiated Cy-TK-LND NPs induce necrosis and apoptosis of tumor cells, upregulate cytochrome C and pro-apoptotic Bax, and downregulate anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. Generally, Cy-TK-LND NPs exhibit efficient mitochondria-targeted delivery to improve the medicinal availability of LND. Accordingly, such a carrier-free prodrug-based nanomedicine holds promise as an effective cancer chemotherapy strategy.

The nonproteinogenic cyclic metabolite l-pipecolic acid is a chiral precursor for the synthesis of various commercial drugs and functions as a cell-protective extremolyte and mediator of defense in plants, enabling high-value applications in the pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetic, and agrochemical markets. To date, the production of the compound is unfavorably fossil-based. Here, we upgraded the strain Corynebacterium glutamicum for l-pipecolic acid production using systems metabolic engineering. Heterologous expression of the l-lysine 6-dehydrogenase pathway, apparently the best route to be used in the microbe, yielded a family of strains that enabled successful de novo synthesis from glucose but approached a limit of performance at a yield of 180 mmol mol -1 . Detailed analysis of the producers at the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome levels revealed that the requirements of the introduced route were largely incompatible with the cellular environment, which could not be overcome after several further rounds of metabolic engineering. Based on the gained knowledge, we based the strain design on l-lysine 6-aminotransferase instead, which enabled a substantially higher in vivo flux toward l-pipecolic acid. The tailormade producer C. glutamicum PIA-7 formed l-pipecolic acid up to a yield of 562 mmol mol -1 , representing 75% of the theoretical maximum. Ultimately, the advanced mutant PIA-10B achieved a titer of 93 g L -1 in a fed-batch process on glucose, outperforming all previous efforts to synthesize this valuable molecule de novo and even approaching the level of biotransformation from l-lysine. Notably, the use of C. glutamicum allows the safe production of GRAS-designated l-pipecolic acid, providing extra benefit toward addressing the high-value pharmaceutical, medical, and cosmetic markets. In summary, our development sets a milestone toward the commercialization of biobased l-pipecolic acid., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

TP0473292 is an adamantane carboxylic acid (ACA) ester prodrug for enhancing the oral bioavailability of the hydrophilic glutamate analog TP0178894, a novel metabotropic glutamate 2 and 3 receptor antagonist, and being developed as an antidepressant. TP0473292 showed high membrane permeability and rapid hydrolysis to TP0178894 in rat, monkey, and human liver S9 fractions, with a conversion rate of such that complete conversion by first-pass metabolism was expected. TP0473292 was also hydrolyzed in the intestinal, renal, and lung S9 fractions, coinciding with the result that TP0473292 was activated by carboxylesterase (CES) 1 and more efficiently by CES2. Despite the rapid hydrolysis of TP0473292 in the intestinal S9 fraction, TP0473292 achieved good oral bioavailability of poorly permeable TP0178894 (approximately 60%) in rats and monkeys, with no TP0473292 detected in the plasma, revealing that rapid hydrolysis in the intestine is not necessarily a disadvantage. We also confirmed the penetration of TP0178894 into the cerebrospinal fluid and its unmetabolized excretion in urine. The ester promoiety, ACA, was metabolized to chemically stable acyl glucuronide and excreted in urine in rats and monkeys, suggesting a low risk of idiosyncratic drug toxicity. TP0473292 and its metabolites did not show a drug-drug interaction potential via cytochrome P450 in humans. These results suggested that TP0473292 functions as an ideal oral prodrug in humans; this was later confirmed to be true in phase 1 clinical trials. Furthermore, ACA was firstly confirmed to be a useful promoiety for hydrophilic drugs to enhance their oral bioavailability. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Hydrolysis in the intestine reportedly has negative effects on the oral bioavailability of hydrophilic active metabolites of ester prodrugs. This study reports the preclinical pharmacokinetics of a hydrophilic metabotropic glutamate 2/3 receptor antagonist, TP0178894, and its ester prodrug TP0473292, which was found to act as an oral prodrug despite being activated predominantly in the intestine. Furthermore, this study firstly reports that adamantane carboxylic acid is useful as the ester promoiety of a prodrug for increasing lipophilicity and oral bioavailability., (Copyright © 2023 by The Author(s).)

Directed enzyme prodrug therapy is a highly promising anti-cancer strategy. However, the current technology is limited by inefficient prodrug activation and the dose-limiting toxicity associated with the prodrugs being tested; to overcome these limitations, the dinitrobenzamide mustard prodrugs, PR-104A and SN27686, have been developed. The present study will assess both of these prodrugs for their potential uses in a novel magnetic-nanoparticle directed enzyme prodrug therapy strategy by determining their kinetic parameters, assessing the products formed during enzymatic reduction using HPLC and finally their ability to cause cell death in the ovarian cancer cell line, SK-OV-3. It was shown for the first time that the dinitrobenzamide mustard prodrugs are able to be reduced by the genetically modified nitroreductases, NfnB-cys and YfkO-cys, and that these enzyme/prodrug combinations can induce a significant cell death in the SK-OV-3 cell line, highlighting the potential for both enzyme/prodrug combinations for use in magnetic-nanoparticle directed enzyme prodrug therapy., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Developing multifunctional platinum(IV) prodrugs via integrating bioactive pharmacophores into one entity is an attractive strategy to ameliorate the defects of platinum(II) drugs. Herein, a series of indole-chalcone derivative-ligated platinum(IV) complexes were synthesized and evaluated for their anticancer activities. Among them, optimal complex 17a exerted superior activity compared to that of cisplatin (CDDP) against the tested cells but showed lower cytotoxicity toward human normal lung cells. Detailed mechanisms demonstrated that 17a significantly enhanced intracellular accumulation, induced DNA damage, and inhibited migration in A549/CDDP cells. Furthermore, 17a efficiently disturbed the tubulin-microtubule system, initiated reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress, and activated a mitochondrion-dependent apoptosis signaling pathway. Besides, 17a was superior to free drugs or their combination in inhibiting cancer growth in A549/CDDP xenografts without inducing obvious side effects. The physical mixture of 16a and CDDP was almost identical to 17a but showed apparent systematic side effects. In summary, our studies may provide an efficient treatment regimen for CDDP resistance.

Tumor hypoxia heterogeneity, a hallmark of the tumor microenvironment, confers resistance to conventional chemotherapy due to insufficient drug availability and drug sensitivity in hypoxic regions. To overcome these challenges, we develope a nanomedicine, NP HPaPN , constructed with hyaluronic acid (HA) grafted with cisplatin prodrug and PEG-azobenzene for hypoxia-responsive PEG shell deshielding and loaded with a DNA damage repair inhibitor (NERi). After arriving at the tumor site, NP HPaPN deshields the PEG shell in response to hypoxia due to the enzymolysis of azobenzene and thus exposes HA. The exposed HA binds to the highly expressed CD44 on cisplatin-resistant tumor cells and mediates drug internalization, thus increasing drug availability to hypoxic tumor cells. After intracellular hyaluronidase-mediated cleavage, the HA NPs release the cisplatin prodrug and NERi, and cause enhanced DNA damage and consequent cell death, thus enhancing the drug sensitivity of hypoxic tumor cells. Eventually, NP HPaPN achieves distinct tumor growth suppression with an ∼84.4% inhibition rate., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Chemotherapy is a widely used and effective adjuvant treatment for cancer, and it has unavoidable damage to female fertility, with statistics showing 38% of women who have received chemotherapy are infertile. How to reduce fertility toxicity while enhancing the oncologic chemotherapy is a clinical challenge. Herein, co-delivery micelles (BML@PMP) are developed, which are composed of a reduction-sensitive paclitaxel prodrug (PMP) for chemotherapy and a CHEK2 inhibitor (BML277) for both fertility protection and chemotherapy enhancement. BML@PMP achieves fertility protection through three actions: (1) Due to the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, BML@PMP is more enriched in the tumor, while very little in the ovary (about 1/10th of the tumor). (2) Glutathione (GSH) triggers the release of PTX, and with low levels of GSH in the ovary, the amount of PTX released in the ovary is correspondingly reduced. (3) BML277 inhibits oocyte apoptosis by inhibiting the CHEK2-TAp63α pathway. Because of the different downstream targets of CHEK2 in tumor cells and oocytes, BML277 also enhances chemotherapeutic efficacy by reducing DNA damage repair which is activated through the CHEK2 pathway. This bidirectional effect of CHEK2 inhibitor-based co-delivery system represents a promising strategy for improving oncology treatment indices and preventing chemotherapy-associated fertility damage., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nowadays a target of interest in cancer therapy as a successful drug delivering tool. Based on their many beneficial biocompatible properties are designed to transport nucleic acids, proteins, various nanomaterials or chemotherapeutics. Extracellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) possess their tumor-homing abilities. This inspired us to engineer the MSC's EVs to be packed with chemotherapeutic agents and deliver it as a Trojan horse directly into tumor cells. In our study, human dental pulp MSCs (DP-MSCs) were cultivated with gemcitabine (GCB), which led to its absorption by the cells and subsequent secretion of the drug out into conditioned media in EVs. Concentrated conditioned media containing small EVs (potentially exosomes) significantly inhibited the cell growth of pancreatic carcinoma cell lines in vitro. DP-MSCs were simultaneously engineered to express a suicide gene fused yeast cytosinedeaminase:uracilphosphoribosyltransferase (yCD::UPRT). The product of the suicide gene converts non-toxic prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) to highly cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the recipient cancer cells. Conversion of 5-FC to 5-FU had an additional effect on cancer cell's growth inhibition. Our results showed a therapeutic potential for DP-MSC-EVs to be designed for successful delivering of chemotherapeutic drugs, together with prodrug suicide gene therapy system., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Fosamprenavir is a phosphate ester prodrug that, upon dissolution, is cleaved to the poorly soluble yet readily absorbable parent drug amprenavir. In this study, a novel cell-free in vitro setup with quasi-continuous monitoring of the dynamic dissolution/bio-conversion/permeation of fosamprenavir was designed and tested. It consists of side-by-side diffusion cells, where the donor and acceptor compartments are separated by the biomimetic barrier PermeaPad®, and sampling from the donor compartment is accomplished via a microdialysis probe. Externally added bovine alkaline phosphatase induced bioconversion in the donor compartment. Microdialysis sampling allowed to follow the enzymatic conversion of fosamprenavir to amprenavir by the bovine alkaline phosphatase in an (almost) real-time manner eliminating the need to remove or inactivate the enzyme. Biomimetic conversion rates in the setup were established by adding appropriate amounts of the alkaline phosphatase. A substantial (6.5-fold) and persistent supersaturation of amprenavir was observed due to bioconversion at lower (500 µM) concentrations, resulting in a substantially increased flux across the biomimetic barrier, nicely reflecting the situation in vivo. At conditions with an almost 10-fold higher dose than the usual human dose, some replicates showed premature precipitation and collapse of supersaturation, while others did not. In conclusion, the proposed novel tool appears very promising in gaining an in-depth mechanistic understanding of the bioconversion/permeation interplay, including transient supersaturation of phosphate-ester prodrugs like fosamprenavir., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1/ABCC1) is an efflux transporter responsible for the extrusion of endogenous substances as well as xenobiotics and their respective metabolites. Its high expression levels in lung tissue imply a key role in pulmonary drug disposition. Moreover, its association with inflammatory lung diseases underline MRP1's relevance in drug development and precision-medicine. With the aim to develop a tool to better understand MRP1's role in drug disposition and lung disease, we generated an ABCC1 -/- clone based on the human distal lung epithelial cell line NCI-H441 via a targeted CRISPR/Cas9 approach. Successful knockout (KO) of MRP1 was confirmed by qPCR, immunoblot and Sanger sequencing. To assess potential compensatory upregulation of transporters with a similar substrate recognition pattern as MRP1, expression levels of MRP2-9 as well as OAT1-4, 6, 7 and 10 were measured. Functional transporter activity was determined via release studies with two prodrug/substrate pairs, i.e. 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (CF; formed from its diacetate prodrug) and S-(6-(7-methylpurinyl))glutathione (MPG; formed from its prodrug 6-bromo-7-methylpurine, BMP), respectively. Lastly, transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) of monolayers of the KO clone were compared with wildtype (WT) NCI-H441 cells. Of eight initially generated clones, the M2 titled clone showed complete absence of mRNA and protein in accordance with the designed genome edit. In transport studies using the substrate CF, however, no differences between the KO clone and WT NCI-H441 cells were observed, whilst no differences in expression of potential compensatory transporters was noted. On the other hand, when using BMP/MPG, the release of MPG was reduced to 11.5% in the KO clone. Based on these results, CF appears to be a suboptimal probe for the study of MRP1 function, particularly in organotypic in vitro and ex vivo models. Our ABCC1 -/- NCI-H441 clone further retained the ability to form electrically tight barriers, making it a useful model to study MRP1 function in vitro., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Bacteria protect themselves from the toxicity of antimicrobial metabolites they produce through several strategies. In one resistance mechanism, bacteria assemble a non-toxic precursor on an N-acyl-d-asparagine prodrug motif in the cytoplasm, then export it to the periplasm where a dedicated d-amino peptidase hydrolyzes the prodrug motif. These prodrug-activating peptidases contain an N-terminal periplasmic S12 hydrolase domain and C-terminal transmembrane domains (TMDs) of varying lengths: type I peptidases contain three transmembrane helices, and type II peptidases have an additional C-terminal ABC half-transporter. We review studies which have addressed the role of the TMD in function, the substrate specificity, and the biological assembly of ClbP, the type I peptidase that activates colibactin. We use modeling and sequence analyses to extend those insights to other prodrug-activating peptidases and ClbP-like proteins which are not part of prodrug resistance gene clusters. These ClbP-like proteins may play roles in the biosynthesis or degradation of other natural products, including antibiotics, may adopt different TMD folds, and have different substrate specificity compared to prodrug-activating homologs. Finally, we review the data supporting the long-standing hypothesis that ClbP interacts with transporters in the cell and that this association is important for the export of other natural products. Future investigations of this hypothesis as well as of the structure and function of type II peptidases will provide a complete account of the role of prodrug-activating peptidases in the activation and secretion of bacterial toxins., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Anti-VEGF therapies are common for the treatment of cancer. Carboxypeptidase G (CPG-2) enzyme is a zinc-dependent metalloenzyme that metabolizes non-toxic synthetic 'benzoic mustard prodrugs' to cytotoxic moieties in tumor cells. In this study, we designed a dual-activity agent by combining a designed anti-VEGF- and CPG-2 enzyme to convert methotrexate (MTX). VEGF-A was docked against a set of scaffolds, and suitable inverse rotamers were made. Rosetta design was used for the interface design. The top 1200 binders were chosen by flow cytometry and displayed in yeast. The activity of CPG-2 enzyme was analyzed at different temperature conditions and in the presence of the substrate, MTX. Optimal binders were selected and protein was eluted using immobilized metal affinity chromatography and size-exclusion chromatography. Both, native PAGE and on-yeast flow cytometry confirmed the binding of the binder to VEGF-A. The activity of truncated enzymes was slightly lower than that of full-length enzymes linked to VEGF-A. The method should be generally useful as a dual-activity agent for targeting VEGF-A and combination therapy with the enzyme CPG-2 for metabolizing non-toxic prodrugs to cytotoxic moieties.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.