Interrelationships among physicochemical properties, absorption and anthelmintic activities of 2-desoxoparaherquamide and selected analogs.

The interrelationships between physicochemical properties, absorption and potency of 2-desoxoparaherquamide and five analogs, representing a new anthelmintic class, were evaluated in in vitro and in vivo assays. At pH 7.5, rates of drug absorption by the gastrointestinal nematode Haemonchus contortus and jird small intestine, parameterized by the permeability coefficient, P(e), ranged from 1.2-2.4 x 10(-4) cm/min (nematode) to 2.5-5.5 x 10(-3) cm/min (jird). In the jird intestine, absorption was pH-dependent, with P(e) at pH 7.5 being twice that at pH 4.5, reflecting the negative influence of protonation on transport of these weakly basic molecules. Each compound rapidly paralyzed H. contortus during in vitro exposure to therapeutically relevant concentrations (1-10 microm). The kinetics of drug action on motility in vivo mirrored their in vitro effects; motility concentrations were reduced in nematodes collected from jird stomach 3 h following oral drug dosing, by which time > or =50% clearance of the parasites had occurred. The nematode/medium partition coefficient K ranged from 10.1 to 16.1, consistent with the lipophilic nature of the compounds. The time required to reduce motility in vitro by 50% (t50*) and P(e) were used to determine C(n)*, the concentration of drug in the nematode at t50*, as an indicator of intrinsic potency. In the jird, the apparent potencies of the compounds were insensitive to route of administration (i.e. oral = i.v. = i.p. = i.m.) for H. contortus and two other gastrointestinal nematodes, Ostertagia ostertagi and Trichostrongylus colubriformis; topical administration, however, required three to 10-fold higher doses for equivalent efficacy.

A human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) primate model of enhanced pulmonary pathology induced with a formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine but not a recombinant FG subunit vaccine.

Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of severe bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants. RSV vaccine development has been stifled for the past 23 years because infants vaccinated with formalin-inactivated (FI) RSV have experienced exacerbated disease upon RSV infection. This exacerbated disease phenomenon is poorly understood, in part because of the lack of a primate model that exhibits a similar exacerbated disease state. Vaccination of African green monkeys with either FI RSV or a genetically engineered subunit vaccine termed FG glycoprotein reduced replication of challenge virus. However, only vaccination with FI RSV induced an enhanced pulmonary pathologic response to RSV infection. Pulmonary inflammatory scores in the FG glycoprotein-vaccinated monkeys were no greater than in monkeys vaccinated with adjuvant alone. This is the first demonstration of RSV vaccine-induced enhanced pathology in a primate and illustrates that a subunit vaccine has the potential of circumventing this exacerbated disease phenomenon.

Vaccination of cotton rats with a chimeric FG glycoprotein of human respiratory syncytial virus induces minimal pulmonary pathology on challenge.

The cotton rat model of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection was used to study the safety and efficacy of a chimeric FG glycoprotein that was expressed in insect cells using a baculovirus vector. Histologic and virologic examination of vaccinated rat lungs was done after challenge with RSV. When rats were challenged 1 month after vaccination, severe pulmonary inflammation characterized by both a mononuclear and polymorphonuclear cell infiltrate and 30%-40% involvement of lung tissue was observed with a formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine. The FG glycoprotein induced minimal lung inflammation (involving 2%-5% of the lung), while negative controls had 1%-3% lung involvement. Two doses with as little as 20 ng of FG glycoprotein formulated in an aluminum hydroxide adjuvant completely protected the cotton rats from RSV challenge. Thus the chimeric FG glycoprotein is highly immunogenic and induces minimal pulmonary inflammation in the cotton rat model.

Precipitation of the renin inhibitor ditekiren upon i.v. infusion; in vitro studies and their relationship to in vivo precipitation in the cynomolgus monkey.

Ditekiren is a pseudo-octapeptide being developed as an inhibitor of human renin. Preclinical drug safety studies with this drug involved continuous i.v. infusions through indwelling catheters in the right internal jugular vein of the cynomolgus monkey for up to 30 days. The following physiocochemical properties of ditekiren make it susceptible to intravascular precipitation immediately following iv infusion: (1) the water solubility of ditekiren is high at acidic pH where the drug is formulated (pH 4) but low at physiologic pH, and (2) the water solubility of ditekiren decreases by roughly 50% from room temperature (25 degrees C) to physiologic temperature (37 degrees C). Studies of 28- and 30-day infusion durations revealed intravascular precipitation in monkeys using drug solutions and rates of infusion that were expected to be precipitation-free, based on the solubility of ditekiren and assumptions about blood flow in the monkey right internal jugular vein. Therefore, an in vitro apparatus was used to study the relationship among the drug concentration in the infusate, the rate of infusion, and the occurrence of precipitation in a fluid stream of phosphate-buffered bovine serum albumin solution (a facsimile of plasma). Maximum rates of infusion without precipitation were determined for a range of concentrations of drug in two separate formulations. Infusion conditions identified by the in vitro method as precipitation-free were then tried in a definitive 14-day monkey study. Of 24 monkeys infused with solutions of ditekiren, none showed evidence of intravascular precipitation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)