Placental transfer of tyrosine kinase inhibitors used for chronic myeloid leukemia treatment.

Both favorable pregnancy outcomes and fetal abnormalities have been associated with the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) during pregnancy. The placental transfer of TKIs in humans is poorly understood. We observed women with chronic myeloid leukemia who used imatinib or nilotinib during the late pregnancy stages. The newborns had no birth abnormalities. We evaluated the drug concentrations in maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, and placental samples collected during labor. We found limited placental transfer of the TKIs. The fetal/maternal concentration ratio ranged from 0.5 to 0.58 for nilotinib and from 0.05 to 0.22 for imatinib. The placental/maternal ratio was higher for imatinib than for nilotinib. Theoretical pharmacokinetic modeling of passive placental crossing was insufficient to predict the in vivo data because the calculated fetal/maternal ratio was close to 1 for both drugs. We propose that active placental transport contributes to fetal protection against TKI exposure during pregnancy.

Thermodynamic and kinetic stability of penicillin acylase from Escherichia coli.

Thermal denaturation of penicillin acylase (PA) from Escherichia coli has been studied by high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry as a function of heating rate, pH and urea concentration. It is shown to be irreversible and kinetically controlled. Upon decrease in the heating rate from 2 to 0.1 K min(-1) the denaturation temperature of PA at pH 6.0 decreases by about 6 degrees C, while the denaturation enthalpy does not change notably giving an average value of 31.6+/-2.1 J g(-1). The denaturation temperature of PA reaches a maximum value of 64.5 degrees C at pH 6.0 and decreases by about of 15 degrees C at pH 3.0 and 9.5. The pH induced changes in the denaturation enthalpy follow changes in the denaturation temperature. Increasing the urea concentration causes a decrease in both denaturation temperature and enthalpy of PA, where denaturation temperature obeys a linear relation. The heat capacity increment of PA is not sensitive to the heating rate, nor to pH, and neither to urea. Its average value is of 0.58+/-0.02 J g(-1) K(-1). The denaturation transition of PA is approximated by the Lumry-Eyring model. The first stage of the process is assumed to be a reversible unfolding of the alpha-subunit. It activates the second stage involving dissociation of two subunits and subsequent denaturation of the beta-subunit. This stage is irreversible and kinetically controlled. Using this model the temperature, enthalpy and free energy of unfolding of the alpha-subunit, and a rate constant of the irreversible stage are determined as a function of pH and urea concentration. Structural features of the folded and unfolded conformation of the alpha-subunit as well as of the transition state of the PA denaturation in aqueous and urea solutions are discussed.

Efficient enantiomeric analysis of primary amines and amino alcohols by high-performance liquid chromatography with precolumn derivatization using novel chiral SH-reagent N-(R)-mandelyl-(S)-cysteine.

Novel N-acylated-(S)-cysteine derivative-N-(R)-mandelyl-(S)-cysteine (R-NMC), containing additional chiral center, aromatic and polar alpha-substituents in contrast to the traditionally used enantiomerically pure thiols, has been demonstrated to be an efficient SH-reagent for enantiomeric HPLC analysis of primary nonfunctionalized amines and amino alcohols after precolumn derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde. The R-NMC-derived isoindoles as well as adducts formed using traditional SH-reagents had a characteristic absorption maximum at 340 nm with a molar absorbance 6000 M(-1) cm(-1), were stable during the HPLC-analysis and highly fluorescent allowing to detect 1 fmol of amino compound. Using diastereomeric R-NMC all tested amino alcohols were resolved effectively as well as nonfunctionalized amines, some of which were not resolved by a direct method on a chiral phase. Applying traditional enantiomeric N-acetyl-(S)-cysteine (NAC) only some isoindoles formed by aliphatic amino alcohols have been separated satisfactorily. The enhanced selectivity for R-NMC-derived isomers has been achieved, obviously, due to the involvement of the substituents at an extra chiral center into additional intramolecular interactions.