Rational Identification of Novel Antibody-Drug Conjugate with High Bystander Killing Effect against Heterogeneous Tumors.

Bystander-killing payloads can significantly overcome the tumor heterogeneity issue and enhance the clinical potential of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), but the rational design and identification of effective bystander warheads constrain the broader implementation of this strategy. Here, graph attention networks (GAT) are constructed for a rational bystander killing scoring model and ADC construction workflow for the first time. To generate efficient bystander-killing payloads, this model is utilized for score-directed exatecan derivatives design. Among them, Ed9, the most potent payload with satisfactory permeability and bioactivity, is further used to construct ADC. Through linker optimization and conjugation, novel ADCs are constructed that perform excellent anti-tumor efficacy and bystander-killing effect in vivo and in vitro. The optimal conjugate T-VEd9 exhibited therapeutic efficacy superior to DS-8201 against heterogeneous tumors. These results demonstrate that the effective scoring approach can pave the way for the discovery of novel ADC with promising bystander payloads to combat tumor heterogeneity.

Kaempferide ameliorates cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity via inhibiting oxidative stress and inducing autophagy.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) caused by anti-tumor drugs, such as cisplatin, is a severe complication with no effective treatment currently, leading to the reduction or discontinuation of chemotherapy. Natural products or herbal medicines are gradually considered as promising agents against cisplatin-induced AKI with the advantages of multi-targeting, multi-effects, and less resistance. In this study, we investigated the effects of kaempferide, a natural flavonoid extracted from the rhizome of Kaempferia galanga, in experimental AKI models in vitro and in vivo. We first conducted pharmacokinetic study in mice and found a relative stable state of kaempferide with a small amount of conversion into kaempferol. We showed that both kaempferide (10 µM) and kaempferol (10 µM) significantly inhibited cisplatin-caused injuries in immortalized proximal tubule epithelial cell line HK-2. In AKI mice induced by injection of a single dose of cisplatin (15 mg/kg), oral administration of kaempferide (50 mg/kg) either before or after cisplatin injection markedly improved renal function, and ameliorated renal tissue damage. We demonstrated that kaempferide inhibited oxidative stress and induced autophagy in cisplatin-treated mice and HK-2 cells, thus increasing tubular cell viability and decreasing immune responses to attenuate the disease progression. In addition, treatment with kaempferide significantly ameliorated ischemia-reperfusion-induced renal injury in vitro and in vivo. We conclude that kaempferide is a promising natural product for treating various AKI. This study has great implications for promotion of its use in healthcare products, and help to break through the limited use of cisplatin in the clinic.

Sapidolide A alleviates acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages.

Macrophages play a critical role in the pathogenesis of acetaminophen (APAP)-induced liver injury (AILI), a major cause of acute liver failure or even death. Sapidolide A (SA) is a sesquiterpene lactone extracted from Baccaurea ramiflora Lour., a folk medicine used in China to treat inflammatory diseases. In this study, we investigated whether SA exerted protective effects on macrophages, thus alleviated the secondary hepatocyte damage in an AILI. We showed that SA (5-20 µM) suppressed the phosphorylated activation of NF-κB in a dose-dependent manner, thereby inhibiting the expression and activation of the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and pyroptosis in LPS/ATP-treated mouse bone marrow-derived primary macrophages (BMDMs). In human hepatic cell line L02 co-cultured with BMDMs, SA (10 µM) protected macrophages from the pyroptosis induced by APAP-damaged L02 cells. Moreover, SA treatment reduced the secondary liver cell damage aggravated by the conditioned medium (CM) taken from LPS/ATP-treated macrophages. The in vivo assessments conducted on mice pretreated with SA (25, 50 mg/kg, ip) then with a single dose of APAP (400 mg/kg, ip) showed that SA significantly alleviated inflammatory responses of AILI by inhibiting the expression and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. In general, the results reported herein revealed that SA exerts anti-inflammatory effects by regulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages, which suggests that SA has great a potential for use in the treatment of AILI patients.

Emerging views of OPTN (optineurin) function in the autophagic process associated with disease.

Macroautophagy/autophagy is a highly conserved process in eukaryotic cells. It plays a critical role in cellular homeostasis by delivering cytoplasmic cargos to lysosomes for selective degradation. OPTN (optineurin), a well-recognized autophagy receptor, has received considerable attention due to its multiple roles in the autophagic process. OPTN is associated with many human disorders that are closely related to autophagy, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and nephropathy. Here, we review the function of OPTN as an autophagy receptor at different stages of autophagy, focusing on cargo recognition, autophagosome formation, autophagosome maturation, and lysosomal quality control. OPTN tends to be protective in most autophagy associated diseases, though the molecular mechanism of OPTN regulation in these diseases is not well understood. A comprehensive review of the function of OPTN in autophagy provides valuable insight into the pathogenesis of human diseases related to OPTN and facilitates the discovery of potential key regulators and novel therapeutic targets for disease intervention in patients with autophagic diseases.Abbreviations: ATG: autophagy-related; APAP: acetaminophen; CALCOCO2/NDP52: calcium binding and coiled-coil domain 2; CC: coiled-coil; HACE1: HECT domain and ankyrin repeat containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1; MYO6: myosin VI; IKBKG/NEMO: inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa B kinase regulatory subunit gamma; IKK: IκB kinase; LIR: LC3-interacting region; LZ: leucine zipper; MAP1LC3/LC3: microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3; NFKB/NF-κB: nuclear factor kappa B subunit; OPTN: optineurin; PIK3C3: phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 3; PINK1: PTEN induced kinase 1; PRKN: parkin RBR E3 ubiquitin protein ligase; RTECs: renal tubular epithelial cells; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; TBK1: TANK binding kinase 1; TOM1: target of myb1 membrane trafficking protein; UBD: ubiquitin-binding domain; ULK1: unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1; WIPI2: WD repeat domain, phosphoinositide interacting 2; ZF: zinc finger.

Optineurin modulates the maturation of dendritic cells to regulate autoimmunity through JAK2-STAT3 signaling.

Optineurin (OPTN) has important functions in diverse biological processes and diseases, but its effect on dendritic cell (DC) differentiation and functionality remains elusive. Here we show that OPTN is upregulated in human and mouse DC maturation, and that deletion of Optn in mice via CD11c-Cre attenuates DC maturation and impairs the priming of CD4+ T cells, thus ameliorating autoimmune symptoms such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Mechanistically, OPTN binds to the JH1 domain of JAK2 and inhibits JAK2 dimerization and phosphorylation, thereby preventing JAK2-STAT3 interaction and inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation to suppress downstream transcription of IL-10. Without such a negative regulation, Optn-deficient DCs eventually induce an IL-10/JAK2/STAT3/IL-10 positive feedback loop to suppress DC maturation. Finally, the natural product, Saikosaponin D, is identified as an OPTN inhibitor, effectively inhibiting the immune-stimulatory function of DCs and the disease progression of EAE in mice. Our findings thus highlight a pivotal function of OPTN for the regulation of DC functions and autoimmune disorders.

EED-mediated histone methylation is critical for CNS myelination and remyelination by inhibiting WNT, BMP, and senescence pathways.

Mutations in the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) can cause Weaver-like syndrome, wherein a patient cohort exhibits abnormal white matter; however, PRC2 functions in CNS myelination and regeneration remain elusive. We show here that H3K27me3, the PRC2 catalytic product, increases during oligodendrocyte maturation. Depletion of embryonic ectoderm development (EED), a core PRC2 subunit, reduces differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitors (OPCs), and causes an OPC-to-astrocyte fate switch in a region-specific manner. Although dispensable for myelin maintenance, EED is critical for oligodendrocyte remyelination. Genomic occupancy and transcriptomic analyses indicate that EED establishes a chromatin landscape that selectively represses inhibitory WNT and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling, and senescence-associated programs. Blocking WNT or BMP pathways partially restores differentiation defects in EED-deficient OPCs. Thus, our findings reveal that EED/PRC2 is a crucial epigenetic programmer of CNS myelination and repair, while demonstrating a spatiotemporal-specific role of PRC2-mediated chromatin silencing in shaping oligodendrocyte identity and lineage plasticity.

Global PROTAC Toolbox for Degrading BCR-ABL Overcomes Drug-Resistant Mutants and Adverse Effects.

The BCR-ABL fusion oncoprotein causes chronic myeloid leukemia or acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Ph+ patients because the ABL kinase is constitutively activated. However, current clinical treatment with ABL inhibitors is seriously limited by drug resistance and adverse effects. Although the emerging proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) have been introduced to degrade BCR-ABL, most of them showed limited activity and could not overcome the common drug-resistant mutants, especially for T315I mutant. Herein, we systematically designed a set of unique PROTACs by globally targeting all the three binding sites of BCR-ABL, including dasatinib-, ponatinib-, and asciminib-based PROTACs. Our ponatinib-based PROTACs showed practical activity as dasatinib-based PROTACs, while no reported ponatinib-based PROTACs could degrade BCR-ABL before. As a proof of concept, some additional dasatinib-based PROTACs were then designed to degrade T315I mutant too. We provided a global PROTAC toolbox for degrading both wild-type and T315I-mutated BCR-ABL from each binding site. More importantly, these PROTACs showed better selectivity and less adverse effects than the inhibitors, indicating that PROTACs had great potential for overcoming clinical drug resistance and safety issues.