Identification of a novel GSK3ß inhibitor involved in abrogating KRas dependent pancreatic tumors in Wnt/beta-catenin and NF-kB dependent manner.

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive malignancy with a poor survival rate because it is difficult to diagnose the disease during its early stages. The currently available treatments, which include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, offer only limited survival benefit. Pharmacological interventions to inhibit Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3beta (GSK3ß) activity is an important therapeutic strategy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer because GSK3ß is one of the key factors involved in the onset, progression as well as in the acquisition of chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer. Here, we report the identification of MJ34 as a potent GSK3ß inhibitor that significantly reduced growth and survival of human mutant KRas dependent pancreatic tumors. MJ34 mediated GSK3ß inhibition was seen to induce apoptosis in a ß-catenin dependent manner and downregulate NF-kB activity in MiaPaCa-2 cells thereby impeding cell survival and anti-apoptotic processes in these cells as well as in the xenograft model of pancreatic cancer. In vivo acute toxicity and in vitro cardiotoxicity studies indicate that MJ34 is well tolerated without any adverse effects. Taken together, we report the discovery of MJ34 as a potential drug candidate for the therapeutic treatment of mutant KRas-dependent human cancers through pharmacological inhibition of GSK3ß.

Discovery of a novel and highly selective JAK3 inhibitor as a potent hair growth promoter.

JAK-STAT signalling pathway inhibitors have emerged as promising therapeutic agents for the treatment of hair loss. Among different JAK isoforms, JAK3 has become an ideal target for drug discovery because it only regulates a narrow spectrum of γc cytokines. Here, we report the discovery of MJ04, a novel and highly selective 3-pyrimidinylazaindole based JAK3 inhibitor, as a potential hair growth promoter with an IC50 of 2.03 nM. During in vivo efficacy assays, topical application of MJ04 on DHT-challenged AGA and athymic nude mice resulted in early onset of hair regrowth. Furthermore, MJ04 significantly promoted the growth of human hair follicles under ex-vivo conditions. MJ04 exhibited a reasonably good pharmacokinetic profile and demonstrated a favourable safety profile under in vivo and in vitro conditions. Taken together, we report MJ04 as a highly potent and selective JAK3 inhibitor that exhibits overall properties suitable for topical drug development and advancement to human clinical trials.

Flurbiprofen inhibits heme induced NLRP3 inflammasome in Berkeley sickle cell disease mice.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is accompanied by several complications, which emanate from the sickling of erythrocytes due to a point mutation in the ß-globin chain of hemoglobin. Sickled erythrocytes are unable to move smoothly through small blood capillaries and therefore, cause vaso occlusion and severe pain. Apart from pain, continuous lysis of fragile sickled erythrocytes leads to the release of heme, which is a strong activator of the NLRP3 inflammasome, thus producing chronic inflammation in sickle cell disease. In this study, we identified flurbiprofen among other COX-2 inhibitors to be a potent inhibitor of heme-induced NLRP3 inflammasome. We found that apart from being a nociceptive agent, flurbiprofen exerts a strong anti-inflammatory effect by suppressing NF-κB signaling, which was evidenced by reduced levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in wild-type and sickle cell disease Berkeley mice models. Our data further demonstrated the protective effect of flurbiprofen on liver, lungs, and spleen in Berkeley mice. The current sickle cell disease pain management regime relies mainly on opiate drugs, which is accompanied by several side effects without modifying the sickle cell disease-related pathology. Considering the potent role of flurbiprofen in inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome and other inflammatory cytokines in sickle cell disease, our data suggests that it can be explored further for better sickle cell disease pain management along with the possibility of disease modification.

Non-genetic effects and repeatability estimates of semen production traits in Murrah buffalo bulls.

The objectives of this study were to determine the repeatability estimates and the effect of ejaculate, season, period, age, and bull on semen production traits in Murrah buffalo bulls maintained in an organized semen station. A data set comprising 54,268 ejaculates from 76 Murrah buffalo bulls collected across 12 years were analyzed. The analysis of variables included non-genetic factors as the fixed effects and bull as the random effect. The repeatability was estimated by the restricted maximum likelihood method (REML) using WOMBAT program. The overall least-squares means for semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm/ejaculate, mass activity, individual motility, post-thaw motility, and frozen semen straws/ejaculate were 2.65 ml, 1222.04 million/ml, 3030.10 million, 2.64, 67.45%, 51.73%, and 128.80 doses. The repeatability estimates were 0.27, 0.25, 0.22, 0.28, 0.34, 0.27, and 0.23, respectively. The studied non-genetic factors influenced (P < 0.01) all seminal traits. Likewise, variation (P < 0.01) due to individual bull was also observed. The first ejaculate was superior in terms of ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, total sperm/ejaculate, and frozen semen straws than the second ejaculate. The south-west monsoon and summer seasons were the best seasons with better semen quality and frozen semen production. Compared to the remaining periods, during Period V (2014-2016), greater values for most seminal traits were found. Bulls above 8 years of age expressed higher semen production than the younger bulls below 4 years, whereas the best performance was observed in the age group of 12 years and above. The repeatability estimates were low to moderate ranging from 0.22 for total sperm/ejaculate to 0.34 for individual motility. A significant (P < 0.01) positive correlation was observed between the seminal traits except the negative correlation in semen volume and total sperm/ejaculate. It was concluded that all the non-genetic factors considered in this study exerted influence on studied seminal traits. Therefore, appropriate management practices can be applied to improve semen quality and quantity.