Research Progress on Glypican-3 Targeted Therapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma / 药学实践杂志

Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) being the most common form of primary liver cancer. Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a cell membrane proteoglycan which is rarely expressed in normal adult tissues but is specifically upregulated in HCC, which makes GPC3 a reliable target for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC. The role of GPC3 in the regulation of cancer development through Wnt, YAP, hedgehog and other signaling pathways were reviewed in this article. GPC3-targeted therapies, such as monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, tumor vaccines, immunotoxins, CAR-T cells, and photosensitizer therapy were also summarized. These treatment methods offered promising approaches for HCC treatment and future treatment strategies for HCC based on GPC3 were prospected in this paper.

Research progress on linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex and OTU deubiquitinase with linear linkage specificity in tumor / 药学实践杂志

Linear ubiquitination is an important post-translational modification that has been discovered in recent years. The linear ubiquitin chain is formed by the linkage of glycine residue of one ubiquitin protein to the methionine residue of another ubiquitin. This process is regulated by the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex (LUBAC) and the OTU deubiquitinase with linear linkage specificity (OTULIN). Linear ubiquitination is involved in various biological processes, including immune response, inflammation, and cell apoptosis. Recent studies have shown that linear ubiquitination is closely related to the occurrence, development, and drug resistance of tumors by affecting signaling pathways such as NF-κB and Wnt/β-catenin. The research progress on the function of LUBAC and OTULIN in tumors was reviewed in this paper.

Discovery of novel KRAS‒PDEδ inhibitors with potent activity in patient-derived human pancreatic tumor xenograft models

KRAS‒PDEδ interaction is revealed as a promising target for suppressing the function of mutant KRAS. The bottleneck in clinical development of PDEδ inhibitors is the poor antitumor activity of known chemotypes. Here, we identified novel spiro-cyclic PDEδ inhibitors with potent antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. In particular, compound 36l (K D = 127 ± 16 nmol/L) effectively bound to PDEδ and interfered with KRAS-PDEδ interaction. It influenced the distribution of KRAS in Mia PaCa-2 cells, downregulated the phosphorylation of t-ERK and t-AKT and promoted apoptosis of the cells. The novel inhibitor 36l exhibited significant in vivo antitumor potency in pancreatic cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. It represents a promising lead compound for investigating the druggability of KRAS‒PDEδ interaction.

NAMPT-targeting PROTAC promotes antitumor immunity via suppressing myeloid-derived suppressor cell expansion

Nicotinamide phosphoribosyl transferase (NAMPT) is considered as a promising target for cancer therapy given its critical engagement in cancer metabolism and inflammation. However, therapeutic benefit of NAMPT enzymatic inhibitors appears very limited, likely due to the failure to intervene non-enzymatic functions of NAMPT. Herein, we show that NAMPT dampens antitumor immunity by promoting the expansion of tumor infiltrating myeloid derived suppressive cells (MDSCs) via a mechanism independent of its enzymatic activity. Using proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) technology, PROTAC A7 is identified as a potent and selective degrader of NAMPT, which degrades intracellular NAMPT (iNAMPT) via the ubiquitin-proteasome system, and in turn decreases the secretion of extracellular NAMPT (eNAMPT), the major player of the non-enzymatic activity of NAMPT. In vivo, PROTAC A7 efficiently degrades NAMPT, inhibits tumor infiltrating MDSCs, and boosts antitumor efficacy. Of note, the anticancer activity of PROTAC A7 is superior to NAMPT enzymatic inhibitors that fail to achieve the same impact on MDSCs. Together, our findings uncover the new role of enzymatically-independent function of NAMPT in remodeling the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, and reports the first NAMPT PROTAC A7 that is able to block the pro-tumor function of both iNAMPT and eNAMPT, pointing out a new direction for the development of NAMPT-targeted therapies.

Homo-PROTAC mediated suicide of MDM2 to treat non-small cell lung cancer

The dose-related adverse effects of MDM2‒P53 inhibitors have caused significant concern in the development of clinical safe anticancer agents. Herein we report an unprecedented homo-PROTAC strategy for more effective disruption of MDM2‒P53 interaction. The design concept is inspired by the capacity of sub-stoichiometric catalytic PROTACs enabling to degrade an unwanted protein and the dual functions of MDM2 as an E3 ubiquitin ligase and a binding protein with tumor suppressor P53. The new homo-PROTACs are designed to induce self-degradation of MDM2. The results of the investigation have shown that PROTAC

Evodiamine-inspired dual inhibitors of histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and topoisomerase 2 (TOP2) with potent antitumor activity

A great challenge in multi-targeting drug discovery is to identify drug-like lead compounds with therapeutic advantages over single target inhibitors and drug combinations. Inspired by our previous efforts in designing antitumor evodiamine derivatives, herein selective histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and topoisomerase 2 (TOP2) dual inhibitors were successfully identified, which showed potent and antitumor potency. Particularly, compound was orally active and possessed excellent antitumor activity in the HCT116 xenograft model (TGI = 75.2%, 150 mg/kg, .) without significant toxicity, which was more potent than HDAC inhibitor vorinostat, TOP inhibitor evodiamine and their combination. Taken together, this study highlights the therapeutic advantages of evodiamine-based HDAC1/TOP2 dual inhibitors and provides valuable leads for the development of novel multi-targeting antitumor agents.

Novel fluorescent probes of 10-hydroxyevodiamine: autophagy and apoptosis-inducing anticancer mechanisms

Natural product evodiamine and its derivatives represent a promising class of multi-target antitumor agents. However, the clinical development of these compounds has been hampered by a poor understanding of their antitumor mechanisms. To tackle this obstacle, herein, novel fluorescent probes were designed to elucidate the antitumor mode of action of 10-hydroxyevodiamine. This compound was proven to be distributed in the mitochondria and lysosomes and to act by autophagy and apoptosis mechanisms.

Structural simplification: an efficient strategy in lead optimization

The trend toward designing large hydrophobic molecules for lead optimization is often associated with poor drug-likeness and high attrition rates in drug discovery and development. Structural simplification is a powerful strategy for improving the efficiency and success rate of drug design by avoiding "molecular obesity". The structural simplification of large or complex lead compounds by truncating unnecessary groups can not only improve their synthetic accessibility but also improve their pharmacokinetic profiles, reduce side effects and so on. This review will summarize the application of structural simplification in lead optimization. Numerous case studies, particularly those involving successful examples leading to marketed drugs or drug-like candidates, will be introduced and analyzed to illustrate the design strategies and guidelines for structural simplification.

The inspiration of American pharmacists training system / 药学实践杂志

Taking Pharm .D .degree education in School of Pharmacy ,University of Pittsburgh as an example ,this pa-per introduced the American pharmacists training system ,degree setting for service-oriented pharmacy students ,training objec-tive ,course design ,teaching staff and other aspects .This paper also reviewed pharmacy education and professional develop-ments for licensed pharmacists in China .Based on the successful experience abroad ,proposals were made to modify the domes-tic pharmacy education .The process of personnel training should be emphasized to improve the quality and capability of licensed pharmacists in China .

Advances of validation of bioactive small molecule targets / 药学实践杂志

With the development of science and the progress of age,medicinal chemistry is not only limited to the lead discovery and the structure-activity relationship studies,but also finding the target of bioactive small molecule drugs has be-come a tough issue to be solved.The identification and validation of bioactive small molecule targets has become the most criti-cal and difficult task,which plays a decisive role in academic and pharmaceutical research.Herein we summarize the current methods for target identification of small molecules,and mainly discuss about the target identification method by the chemical probes.Recent cases of successful application were also introduced to demonstrate the strategy of probe synthesis and design.

Research progress of dual topoisomerase Ⅰ and Ⅱ inhibitors / 药学实践杂志

DNA topoisomerases (Tops) are essential enzymes that regulate the cellular processes such as replication , transcription ,recombination and repair .DNA Tops can be classified into two types ,topoisomerase Ⅰ (TopⅠ ) and topoi-somerase Ⅱ (TopⅡ) .They catalyze the breakage and religation of DNA ,maintaining the topological changes of DNA and va-rious DNA metabolic processes .Due to their important role in DNA metabolism ,the ability to interfere with the functions of Tops or generating Top-mediated DNA damage is an effective strategy for cancer chemotherapy .Tops have been considered as the most important targets for tumor chemotherapy .In this review ,we used examples to describe the development of dual to-poisomerase Ⅰ and Ⅱ inhibitors .

Recent advances of tyrosyl-DNA phosdiesterase Ⅰ (TdpⅠ) inhibitors / 药学实践杂志

Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase Ⅰ (TdpⅠ ) is a recently discovered proteinthat catalyzes the hydrolysis of 3′-phosphotyrosyl bonds .Such linkages form in vivo during the interaction of DNA and topoisomerase Ⅰ (TopⅠ) .TdpⅠ has been regarded as a potential therapeutic co-target of TopⅠ because it has the functions of repairing Top Ⅰ compound and coun-teracting the effects of Top Ⅰ inhibitors .TdpⅠ inhibitors can not only synergizing with Top Ⅰ-targeting drugs (camptoth-ecins) ,but also strength the function of bleomycin ,topoisomerase Ⅱ (TopⅡ ) inhibitors (etoposide ,doxorubicin) and DNA alkylating agents .We summarized the researching advance of TdpⅠ inhibitors and focused on the introduction of the mecha-nism ,bioactivity and structure-activity relationship .