Iodination of verapamil for a stronger induction of death, through GSH efflux, of cancer cells overexpressing MRP1.

The multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1), involved in multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancer cells, was found to be modulated by verapamil, through stimulation of GSH transport, leading to apoptosis of MRP1-overexpressing cells. In this study, various iodinated derivatives of verapamil were synthesized, including iodination on the B ring, known to be involved in verapamil cardiotoxicity, and assayed for the stimulation of GSH efflux by MRP1. The iodination, for nearly all compounds, led to a higher stimulation of GSH efflux. However, determination of concomitant cytotoxicity is also important for selecting the best compound, which was found to be 10-fold more potent than verapamil. This will then allow us to design original anti-cancer compounds which could specifically kill the resistant cancer cells.

Oxinobactin, a siderophore analogue to enterobactin involving 8-hydroxyquinoline subunits: synthesis and iron binding ability.

Oxinobactin, a siderophore analogue to enterobactin but possessing 8-hydroxyquinoline instead of catechol complexing subunits, has been synthesized starting from L-serine and 8-hydroxyquinoline. Comparative iron binding studies showed that oxinobactin is as effective as enterobactin for the complexation of Fe(III) at physiological pH but with improved complexing ability at acidic pH.

Vesicles to concentrate iron in low-iron media: an attempt to mimic marine siderophores.

Amphiphilic catechol-type iron chelators were studied with the aim of mimicking the properties of marine bacterial siderophores. The Fe(III) complexation constants and aqueous solution speciation of L(S10), a sulfonated catechol unit that has a C(10) lipophilic carbon chain connected by an amide linkage, were determined by spectrophotometric titration. The calculated value of pFe3+ is 18.1 at pH 7.4. Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy showed that the tris(catecholate) ferric complex formed at physiological pH initially assembles into micelles, in which the catecholate-iron units stay on the exterior of the micelle. The average diameter of these micelles was estimated to be 4.2 nm. The micelles then slowly rearrange into clusters of different sizes, which leads to the formation of unilamellar and bilamellar vesicles. The reorganization processes are comparable to those observed by Butler et al. for the marinobactin siderophores produced by marine bacteria, but in contrast to the marinobactins, vesicles of the Fe3+-L(S10) complex form without an excess of iron relative to ligand concentration. The time-dependent micelle-to-vesicle transition is discussed herein.

Design of iron chelators: syntheses and iron (III) complexing abilities of tripodal tris-bidentate ligands.

The interest in synthetic siderophore mimics includes therapeutic applications (iron chelation therapy), the design of more effective agents to deliver Fe to plants and the development of new chemical tools in order to study iron metabolism and iron assimilation processes in living systems. The design of ligands needs a rational approach for the understanding of the metal ion complexing abilities. The octahedral arrangement of donor atoms is the most favourable geometry, allowing the maximum possible distance between their formal or partial negative charges. Hexadentate chelators, usually of the tris-bidentate type, can accommodate the metal coordination sphere and are well-suited to obtain high pFe values. The first part of this review is dedicated to selected synthetic routes, taking into account (i) the nature of the chelating subunits, connecting groups and spacers, (ii) the water-solubility and hydrophilic/lipophilic balance, (iii) the chirality and (iv) the possibility of grafting probes or vectors. In the second part, we discuss the role of the molecular design on complexing abilities (thermodynamics and kinetics). The bidentate 8-hydroxyquinoline moiety offers an alternative to the usual coordinating hydroxamic acids, catechols and/or alpha-hydroxycarboxylic acids groups encountered in natural siderophores. The promizing results obtained with the tris-hydroxyquinoline-based ligand O-TRENSOX are summarized. O-TRENSOX exhibits a high and selective affinity for Fe(III) complexation. Its efficiency in delivering Fe to plants, iron mobilization, cell protection, and antiproliferative effects has been evidenced. Other chelators derived from O-TRENSOX (mixed catechol/8-hydroxyquinoline ligands, lipophilic ligands) are also described. Some results question the relevance of partition coefficients to foresee the activity of iron chelators. The development of probes (fluorescent, radioactive, spin labelled) based on the O-TRENSOX backbone is in progress in order to get insights in the complicated iron metabolism processes.

Early detection of chemoresistance in vivo through the use of a radiolabeled antisense oligonucleotide.

AIMS: Radiolabeled antisense oligonucleotide to target the mRNA of the hmdr1 gene for diagnostic purposes is a new concept for evaluating the chemoresistance of tumors in vivo. METHODS AND RESULTS: An 18 mer complementary to the zone which contains the translation initiation codon of the hmdr1 gene was modified using one phosphoramidate group and one dimethoxytrityle group at the 5' and 3'ends. It permitted probe radiolabeling by 125I. Chemical modifications made to the antisense probe ensured the stability in biological media tested by incubation with human serum at 37 degrees C from 5 minutes to 24 hours. These modifications did not interfere with recognition of the target. Retention of the antisense probe followed the expression level of the target transcript in in vitro and in vivo studies. In vitro, after a 2-hour incubation in the presence of K562--sensitive (S) and- resistant (R) cell lines, uptake was respectively 4.27 +/- 0.96% ID/mg protein and 7.78 +/- 0.46% ID/mg protein (p < 0.001). In vivo, the ratios between radioactivity found in the tumor and that found in the striated muscle and in the blood were, respectively, 20 and 3 for IGR OV1 resistant tumor and 1 and 0.3 for the sensitive one. CONCLUSION: In our study, resistant cell lines and tumor showed greater retention of the specific probe than the sensitive ones. This constitutes a further advance towards non invasive imaging of resistant genes involved in chemoresistance. These results are encouraging: the current trend in innovative cancer therapy is moving towards targeting the genes of interest.