Glucocorticoids (GCs) are steroid hormones that are necessary for life and important in health and disease. They regulate crucial homeostatic functions, including metabolism, cell growth, and ...development. Although GCs are regulated by circadian rhythm, increased production is associated with stress. Synthetic GCs are a valuable resource for anti‐inflammatory and immunosuppressive therapy. Natural and synthetic GCs transduce signals mainly through GC receptor (GR) activation. Extensive research has explored the downstream targets of the GR, and optimization of GC therapy has required collaborative efforts. One highly promising approach involves new dissociative GR modulators. Because transrepression and transactivation of GR genes induce beneficial and adverse effects, respectively, this approach favors transrepression. Another approach involves the use of GC‐dependent genes to generate proteins to mediate therapeutic GC effects. In a third approach, drug discovery is used to identify agents that selectively target GR isoforms to obtain differential gene transcription and effects. In this review, we focus on mechanisms of GR function compatible with the use of dissociative drugs. We highlight GC‐induced leucine zipper (GILZ), a gene cloned in our laboratory, as a mediator of GC anti‐inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects, to outline our perspective on the future of GC therapy.—Ayroldi, E., Macchiarulo, A., Riccardi, C., Targeting glucocorticoid side effects: selective glucocorticoid receptor modulator or glucocorticoid‐induced leucine zipper? A perspective. FASEB J. 28, 5055–5070 (2014). www.fasebj.org
Arginase 1 (Arg1) and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) are immunoregulatory enzymes catalyzing the degradation of l-arginine and l-tryptophan, respectively, resulting in local amino acid ...deprivation. In addition, unlike Arg1, IDO1 is also endowed with non-enzymatic signaling activity in dendritic cells (DCs). Despite considerable knowledge of their individual biology, no integrated functions of Arg1 and IDO1 have been reported yet. We found that IDO1 phosphorylation and consequent activation of IDO1 signaling in DCs was strictly dependent on prior expression of Arg1 and Arg1-dependent production of polyamines. Polyamines, either produced by DCs or released by bystander Arg1+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells, conditioned DCs toward an IDO1-dependent, immunosuppressive phenotype via activation of the Src kinase, which has IDO1-phosphorylating activity. Thus our data indicate that Arg1 and IDO1 are linked by an entwined pathway in immunometabolism and that their joint modulation could represent an important target for effective immunotherapy in several disease settings.
•Dendritic cells (DCs) can co-express Arg1 and IDO1 immunosuppressive enzymes•Arg1 activity is required for IDO1 induction by TGF-β in DCs•Spermidine, a downstream Arg1 product, but not arginine starvation, induces IDO1 in DCs•Arg1+ myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) can render DCs immunosuppressive via IDO1
Arginase 1 (Arg1) and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) are immunosuppressive enzymes known to operate in distinct immune cells. Mondanelli and colleagues demonstrate that Arg1 and IDO1 cooperate in conferring long-term, immunosuppressive effects to dendritic cells.
Inhibitors of poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) family proteins are currently in clinical trials as cancer therapeutics, yet the specificity of many of these compounds is unknown. Here we evaluated a ...series of 185 small-molecule inhibitors, including research reagents and compounds being tested clinically, for the ability to bind to the catalytic domains of 13 of the 17 human PARP family members including the tankyrases, TNKS1 and TNKS2. Many of the best-known inhibitors, including TIQ-A, 6(5H)-phenanthridinone, olaparib, ABT-888 and rucaparib, bound to several PARP family members, suggesting that these molecules lack specificity and have promiscuous inhibitory activity. We also determined X-ray crystal structures for five TNKS2 ligand complexes and four PARP14 ligand complexes. In addition to showing that the majority of PARP inhibitors bind multiple targets, these results provide insight into the design of new inhibitors.
Recent years have seen substantially heightened interest in the discovery of tankyrase inhibitors (TNKSi) as new promising anticancer agents. In this framework, the aim of this review article is ...focused on the description of potent TNKSi also endowed with disruptor activity toward the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Beginning with an overview of the most characterized TNKSi deriving from several drug design approaches and classifying them on the basis of the molecular interactions with the target, we discuss only those ones acting against Wnt cancer cell lines. In addition, comprehensive structure property relationships (SPR) emerging from the hit evolution processes and preclinical results are provided. We then review the most promising TNKSi hitherto reported in literature, acting in vivo models of Wnt-driven cancers. Some outlooks on current issues and future directions in this field are also discussed.
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•Structure property relationships analysis of TNKSi targeting Wnt-driven cancers has been provided.•Hit evolution processes of each TNKSi have been highlighted in order to help future drug design.•The most promising compounds are analyzed as cases study for their effects against Wnt-driven cancers.•The biological effects of TNKIs as anticancer agents were reviewed and their pitfalls discussed.•TNKIs lack of selectivity and requirement for combination therapy were evaluated.
Inhibition of ADP‐ribosyltransferases with diphtheria toxin homology (ARTD), widely known as the poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase (PARP) family, is a strategy under development for treatment of various ...conditions, including cancers and ischemia. Here, we give a brief summary of ARTD enzyme functions and the implications for their potential as therapeutic targets. We present an overview of the PARP inhibitors that have been used in clinical trials. Finally, we summarize recent insights from structural biology, and discuss the molecular aspects of PARP inhibitors in terms of broad‐range versus selective inhibition of ARTD family enzymes.
PARP inhibitors have been a proof‐of‐concept showcase for the principle of synthetic lethality in cancer drug discovery. In this paper, we provide the reader with a historical perspective of existing PARP inhibitors in clinical trials, focusing on polypharmacology in contrast to selective inhibition, and providing an outlook on future directions in the field of design of selective inhibitors.
In response to the outburst of research in the field of synthetic medicinal chemistry, enantioselective chromatography methods based on the use of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) found immediate ...acceptance as the elective choice for the analytical determinations of the enantiomeric purity of synthetic compounds. In contrast to an initial scepticism, also the preparative-scale applications are gaining increasing recognition as a powerful alternative to enantioselective synthesis for the supply of pure enantiomers of bioactive compounds. The increasing success of liquid chromatography methods has been made possible thanks to the development of highly efficient CSPs allowing the enantioresolution of practically all the chemical classes of chiral compounds. However, only few CSPs are really suitable for preparative- scale applications, being the loading capacity is the major concern for preparativescale enantioseparations. The cellulose- and amylose-based CSPs present the highest loading capacity and enantiodiscrimination power, which makes these CSPs the most versatile and applicable for preparative-scale applications in all the applicable elution modes (reversedphase, normal-phase, and with polar-organic or polar-ionic eluents). However, also other types of CSPs have been successfully employed at this regard (brush-type phases, polyacrylamide and cross-linked di-allyltartardiamide phases as well as cyclodextrin, and glycopeptide containing phases). Several instrumental methods exist for the determination of the absolute configuration of organic compounds in absence of known enantiopure reference standards. The most widely known are X-ray crystallography, followed by chirooptical methods e.g., electronic and vibrational circular dichroism (ECD and VCD, respectively) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. All these aspects will be treated in the review.
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step of Kynurenine pathway along the major route of Tryptophan catabolism. The scientific interest in the enzyme has been ...growing since the observations of the involvement of IDO in the mechanisms of immune tolerance and in the mechanisms of tumor immuno-editing process. In view of this latter observation, in particular, preclinical studies of small molecule inhibitors of the enzyme have indicated the feasibility to thwart the immuno-editing process and to enhance the efficacy of current chemotherapeutic agents, supporting the notion that IDO is a novel target in cancer disease. This review covers the structural and conformational aspects of substrate recognition by IDO, including the catalytic mechanism and the so-far puzzling mechanisms of enzyme activation. Furthermore, we discuss the recent advances of medicinal chemistry in the field of IDO inhibitors.
Two LC methods were developed for the achiral and chiral reversed-phase (RP) analysis of an amino acid (AA) pool in a food supplement, in compliance with the main paradigms of Green Chromatography. A ...direct achiral ion-pairing RP-HPLC method was optimized under gradient conditions with a water-ethanol (EtOH) eluent containing heptafluorobutyric acid (0.1%,
), to quantify the eight essential AAs (Ile, Leu, Lys, Met, Phe, Thr, Trp, and Val) contained in the food supplement. Thus, the usually employed acetonitrile was profitably substituted with the less toxic and more benign EtOH. The method was validated for Leu and Phe. The chiral LC method performed with a teicoplanin chiral stationary phase was developed with a water-EtOH (60:40,
) eluent with 0.1%,
acetic acid. The enantioselective analysis was carried out without any prior derivatization step. Both developed methods performed highly for all eight AAs and revealed that: (i) the content of six out of eight AAs was consistent with the manufacturer declaration; (ii) only L-AAs were present. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that a two-dimensional achiral-chiral configuration is possible in practice, making it even more environmentally sustainable. A molecular modelling investigation revealed interesting insights into the enantiorecognition mechanism of Lys.
In the present work, we illustrate the ability of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis to assist the synthesis of chiral imidazolines within our medicinal chemistry programs. In ...particular, a Chiralpak
IB
column containing cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) immobilized onto a 5 μm silica gel was used for the enantioselective HPLC analysis of chiral imidazolines synthesized in the frame of hit-to-lead explorations and designed for exploring the effect of diverse amide substitutions. Very profitably, reversed-phase (RP) conditions succeeded in resolving the enantiomers in nine out of the 10 investigated enantiomeric pairs, with α values always higher than 1.10 and R
values up to 2.31. All compounds were analysed with 50% (v) water while varying the content of the two organic modifiers acetonitrile and methanol. All the employed eluent systems were buffered with 40 mM ammonium acetate while the apparent pH was fixed at 7.5. Based on the experimental results, the prominent role of π-π stacking interactions between the substituted electron-rich phenyl groups outside of the polymeric selector and the complementary aromatic region in defining analyte retention and stereodiscrimination was identified. The importance of compound polarity in explaining the retention behaviour with the employed RP system was readily evident when a quantitative structure-property relationship study was performed on the retention factor values (k) of the 10 compounds, as computed with a 30% (v) methanol containing mobile phase. Indeed, good Pearson correlation coefficients of retention factors (r - log k
= -0.93; r - log k
= -0.94) were obtained with a water solubility descriptor (Ali-logS). Interestingly, a
-hexane/chloroform/ethanol (88:10:2,
/
/
)-based non-standard mobile phase allowed the almost base-line enantioseparation (α = 1.06; R
= 1.26) of the unique compound undiscriminated under RP conditions.
Abstract
Tryptophan catabolism is a major metabolic pathway utilized by several professional and non-professional antigen presenting cells to maintain immunological tolerance. Here we report that ...3-hydroxy-
l
-kynurenamine (3-HKA) is a biogenic amine produced via an alternative pathway of tryptophan metabolism. In vitro, 3-HKA has an anti-inflammatory profile by inhibiting the IFN-γ mediated STAT1/NF-κΒ pathway in both mouse and human dendritic cells (DCs) with a consequent decrease in the release of pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines, most notably TNF, IL-6, and IL12p70. 3-HKA has protective effects in an experimental mouse model of psoriasis by decreasing skin thickness, erythema, scaling and fissuring, reducing TNF, IL-1β, IFN-γ, and IL-17 production, and inhibiting generation of effector CD8
+
T cells. Similarly, in a mouse model of nephrotoxic nephritis, besides reducing inflammatory cytokines, 3-HKA improves proteinuria and serum urea nitrogen, overall ameliorating immune-mediated glomerulonephritis and renal dysfunction. Overall, we propose that this biogenic amine is a crucial component of tryptophan-mediated immune tolerance.
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