Chirality: a key parameter in chemical probes.

Many small molecule bioactive and marketed drugs are chiral. They are often synthesised from commercially available chiral building blocks. However, chirality is sometimes incorrectly assigned by manufacturers with consequences for the end user ranging from: experimental irreproducibility, wasted time on synthesising the wrong product and reanalysis, to the added cost of purchasing the precursor and resynthesis of the correct stereoisomer. Further on, this could lead to loss of reputation, loss of funding, to safety and ethical concerns due to potential in vivo administration of the wrong form of a drug. It is our firm belief that more stringent control of chirality be provided by the supplier and, if needed, requested by the end user, to minimise the potential issues mentioned above. Certification of chirality would bring much needed confidence in chemical structure assignment and could be provided by a variety of techniques, from polarimetry, chiral HPLC, using known chiral standards, vibrational circular dichroism, and x-ray crystallography. A few case studies of our brushes with wrong chirality assignment are shown as well as some examples of what we believe to be good practice.

Efficient, multi-hundred-gram scale access to E3 ubiquitin ligase ligands for degrader development.

Small molecule heterobifunctional degraders (commonly also known as PROTACs) offer tremendous potential to deliver new therapeutics in areas of unmet medical need. To deliver on this promise, a new discipline directed at degrader design and optimization has emerged within medicinal chemistry to address a central challenge, namely how to optimize relatively large, heterobifunctional molecules for activity, whilst maintaining drug-like properties. This process involves simultaneous optimization of the three principle degrader components: E3 ubiquitin ligase ligand, linker, and protein of interest (POI) ligand. A substantial degree of commonality exists with the E3 ligase ligands typically used at the early stages of degrader development, resulting in demand for these compounds as chemical building blocks in degrader research programs. We describe herein a collation of large scale, high-yielding syntheses to access the most utilized E3 ligase ligands to support early-stage degrader development.

Diastereomeric Resolution Yields Highly Potent Inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease.

SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent behind the COVID-19 pandemic. The main protease (Mpro, 3CLpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is a key enzyme that processes polyproteins translated from the viral RNA. Mpro is therefore an attractive target for the design of inhibitors that block viral replication. We report the diastereomeric resolution of the previously designed SARS-CoV-2 Mpro α-ketoamide inhibitor 13b. The pure (S,S,S)-diastereomer, 13b-K, displays an IC50 of 120 nM against the Mpro and EC50 values of 0.8-3.4 µM for antiviral activity in different cell types. Crystal structures have been elucidated for the Mpro complexes with each of the major diastereomers, the active (S,S,S)-13b (13b-K), and the nearly inactive (R,S,S)-13b (13b-H); results for the latter reveal a novel binding mode. Pharmacokinetic studies show good levels of 13b-K after inhalative as well as after peroral administration. The active inhibitor (13b-K) is a promising candidate for further development as an antiviral treatment for COVID-19.

Scale-up and optimization of the synthesis of dual CBP/BRD4 inhibitor ISOX-DUAL.

ISOX-DUAL is a dual inhibitor of CBP/p300 (IC50 = 0.65 µM) and BRD4 (IC50 = 1.5 µM) bromodomains, and a useful chemical probe for epigenetic research. Aspects of the published synthetic route to this compound and its analogues are small-scale, poor-yielding or simply unamenable to scale-up without optimization. Herein we describe the development of a refined synthesis that circumvents the challenges of the original report, with notable improvements to several of the key synthetic transformations. Moreover, a general Suzuki Miyaura protocol for the late stage installation of alternative dimethyl-isoxazole acetyl-lysine (KAc) binding motifs is presented.

Inactivation of the CIC-DUX4 oncogene through P300/CBP inhibition, a therapeutic approach for CIC-DUX4 sarcoma.

CIC-DUX4 sarcoma (CDS) is a highly aggressive and metastatic small round type of predominantly pediatric sarcoma driven by a fusion oncoprotein comprising the transcriptional repressor Capicua (CIC) fused to the C-terminal transcriptional activation domain of DUX4. CDS rapidly develops resistance to chemotherapy, thus novel specific therapies are greatly needed. We demonstrate that CIC-DUX4 requires P300/CBP to induce histone H3 acetylation, activate its targets, and drive oncogenesis. We describe the synthetic route to a selective and highly potent P300/CBP inhibitor named iP300w and related stereoisomers, and find that iP300w efficiently suppresses CIC-DUX4 transcriptional activity and reverses CIC-DUX4 induced acetylation. iP300w is active at 100-fold lower concentrations than related stereoisomers or A-485. At low doses, iP300w shows specificity to CDS cancer cell lines, rapidly inducing cell cycle arrest and preventing growth of established CDS xenograft tumors when delivered in vivo. The effectiveness of iP300w to inactivate CIC-DUX4 highlights a promising therapeutic opportunity for CDS.

Reviewing the toolbox for degrader development in oncology.

The field of targeted protein degradation encompasses a growing number of modalities that achieve potent and selective knockdown of target proteins at the post-translational level. Among the most clinically advanced are bifunctional small-molecule degraders, also referred to as PROteolysis Targeting Chimeras, Degronimids, SNIPERs, or uSMITEs. Although applicable to many disease indications, oncology stands to be the first to benefit from this promising therapeutic approach, with the first investigational new drugs (INDs) filed in 2019 and a proliferation of research specifically focused on harnessing degraders for cancer treatment. In this review, we consider the toolbox of guidelines, reagents, and technologies that has evolved alongside the field to support degrader research and development.

Design and Validation of a Human Brain Endothelial Microvessel-on-a-Chip Open Microfluidic Model Enabling Advanced Optical Imaging.

We describe here the design and implementation of an in vitro microvascular open model system using human brain microvascular endothelial cells. The design has several advantages over other traditional closed microfluidic platforms: (1) it enables controlled unidirectional flow of media at physiological rates to support vascular function, (2) it allows for very small volumes which makes the device ideal for studies involving biotherapeutics, (3) it is amenable for multiple high resolution imaging modalities such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), 3D live fluorescence imaging using traditional spinning disk confocal microscopy, and advanced lattice light sheet microscopy (LLSM). Importantly, we miniaturized the design, so it can fit within the physical constraints of LLSM, with the objective to study physiology in live cells at subcellular level. We validated barrier function of our brain microvessel-on-a-chip by measuring permeability of fluorescent dextran and a human monoclonal antibody. One potential application is to investigate mechanisms of transcytosis across the brain microvessel-like barrier of fluorescently-tagged biologics, viruses or nanoparticles.

Endothelial Glycocalyx Layer Properties and Its Ability to Limit Leukocyte Adhesion.

The endothelial glycocalyx layer (EGL), which consists of long proteoglycans protruding from the endothelium, acts as a regulator of inflammation by preventing leukocyte engagement with adhesion molecules on the endothelial surface. The amount of resistance to adhesive events the EGL provides is the result of two properties: EGL thickness and stiffness. To determine these, we used an atomic force microscope to indent the surfaces of cultured endothelial cells with a glass bead and evaluated two different approaches for interpreting the resulting force-indentation curves. In one, we treat the EGL as a molecular brush, and in the other, we treat it as a thin elastic layer on an elastic half-space. The latter approach proved more robust in our hands and yielded a thickness of 110 nm and a modulus of 0.025 kPa. Neither value showed significant dependence on indentation rate. The brush model indicated a larger layer thickness (∼350 nm) but tended to result in larger uncertainties in the fitted parameters. The modulus of the endothelial cell was determined to be 3.0-6.5 kPa (1.5-2.5 kPa for the brush model), with a significant increase in modulus with increasing indentation rates. For forces and leukocyte properties in the physiological range, a model of a leukocyte interacting with the endothelium predicts that the number of molecules within bonding range should decrease by an order of magnitude because of the presence of a 110-nm-thick layer and even further for a glycocalyx with larger thickness. Consistent with these predictions, neutrophil adhesion increased for endothelial cells with reduced EGL thickness because they were grown in the absence of fluid shear stress. These studies establish a framework for understanding how glycocalyx layers with different thickness and stiffness limit adhesive events under homeostatic conditions and how glycocalyx damage or removal will increase leukocyte adhesion potential during inflammation.

A perfused human blood-brain barrier on-a-chip for high-throughput assessment of barrier function and antibody transport.

BACKGROUND: Receptor-mediated transcytosis is one of the major routes for drug delivery of large molecules into the brain. The aim of this study was to develop a novel model of the human blood-brain barrier (BBB) in a high-throughput microfluidic device. This model can be used to assess passage of large biopharmaceuticals, such as therapeutic antibodies, across the BBB. METHODS: The model comprises human cell lines of brain endothelial cells, astrocytes, and pericytes in a two-lane or three-lane microfluidic platform that harbors 96 or 40 chips, respectively, in a 384-well plate format. In each chip, a perfused vessel of brain endothelial cells was grown against an extracellular matrix gel, which was patterned by means of surface tension techniques. Astrocytes and pericytes were added on the other side of the gel to complete the BBB on-a-chip model. Barrier function of the model was studied using fluorescent barrier integrity assays. To test antibody transcytosis, the lumen of the model's endothelial vessel was perfused with an anti-transferrin receptor antibody or with a control antibody. The levels of antibody that penetrated to the basal compartment were quantified using a mesoscale discovery assay. RESULTS: The perfused BBB on-a-chip model shows presence of adherens and tight junctions and severely limits the passage of a 20 kDa FITC-dextran dye. Penetration of the antibody targeting the human transferrin receptor (MEM-189) was markedly higher than penetration of the control antibody (apparent permeability of 2.9 × 10-5 versus 1.6 × 10-5 cm/min, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate successful integration of a human BBB microfluidic model in a high-throughput plate-based format that can be used for drug screening purposes. This in vitro model shows sufficient barrier function to study the passage of large molecules and is sensitive to differences in antibody penetration, which could support discovery and engineering of BBB-shuttle technologies.

Uromodulin p.Cys147Trp mutation drives kidney disease by activating ER stress and apoptosis.

Uromodulin-associated kidney disease (UAKD) is caused by mutations in the uromodulin (UMOD) gene that result in a misfolded form of UMOD protein, which is normally secreted by nephrons. In UAKD patients, mutant UMOD is poorly secreted and accumulates in the ER of distal kidney epithelium, but its role in disease progression is largely unknown. Here, we modeled UMOD accumulation in mice by expressing the murine equivalent of the human UMOD p.Cys148Trp point mutation (UmodC147W/+ mice). Like affected humans, these UmodC147W/+ mice developed spontaneous and progressive kidney disease with organ failure over 24 weeks. Analysis of diseased kidneys and purified UMOD-producing cells revealed early activation of the PKR-like ER kinase/activating transcription factor 4 (PERK/ATF4) ER stress pathway, innate immune mediators, and increased apoptotic signaling, including caspase-3 activation. Unexpectedly, we also detected autophagy deficiency. Human cells expressing UMOD p.Cys147Trp recapitulated the findings in UmodC147W/+ mice, and autophagy activation with mTOR inhibitors stimulated the intracellular removal of aggregated mutant UMOD. Human cells producing mutant UMOD were susceptible to TNF-α- and TRAIL-mediated apoptosis due to increased expression of the ER stress mediator tribbles-3. Blocking TNF-α in vivo with the soluble recombinant fusion protein TNFR:Fc slowed disease progression in UmodC147W/+ mice by reducing active caspase-3, thereby preventing tubule cell death and loss of epithelial function. These findings reveal a targetable mechanism for disease processes involved in UAKD.

Hyperactive FOXO1 results in lack of tip stalk identity and deficient microvascular regeneration during kidney injury.

Loss of the microvascular (MV) network results in tissue ischemia, loss of tissue function, and is a hallmark of chronic diseases. The incorporation of a functional vascular network with that of the host remains a challenge to utilizing engineered tissues in clinically relevant therapies. We showed that vascular-bed-specific endothelial cells (ECs) exhibit differing angiogenic capacities, with kidney microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs) being the most deficient, and sought to explore the underlying mechanism. Constitutive activation of the phosphatase PTEN in kidney MVECs resulted in impaired PI3K/AKT activity in response to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Suppression of PTEN in vivo resulted in microvascular regeneration, but was insufficient to improve tissue function. Promoter analysis of the differentially regulated genes in KMVECs suggests that the transcription factor FOXO1 is highly active and RNAseq analysis revealed that hyperactive FOXO1 inhibits VEGF-Notch-dependent tip-cell formation by direct and indirect inhibition of DLL4 expression in response to VEGF. Inhibition of FOXO1 enhanced angiogenesis in human bio-engineered capillaries, and resulted in microvascular regeneration and improved function in mouse models of injury-repair.

Nanoscale physicochemical properties of chain- and step-growth polymerized PEG hydrogels affect cell-material interactions.

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels provide a versatile platform to develop cell instructive materials through incorporation of a variety of cell adhesive ligands and degradable chemistries. Synthesis of PEG gels can be accomplished via two mechanisms: chain and step growth polymerizations. The mechanism dramatically impacts hydrogel nanostructure, whereby chain polymerized hydrogels are highly heterogeneous and step growth networks exhibit more uniform structures. Underpinning these alterations in nanostructure of chain polymerized hydrogels are densely-packed hydrophobic poly(methyl methacrylate) or poly(acrylate) kinetic chains between hydrophilic PEG crosslinkers. As cell-material interactions, such as those mediated by integrins, occur at the nanoscale and affect cell behavior, it is important to understand how different modes of polymerization translate into nanoscale mechanical and hydrophobic heterogeneities of hydrogels. Therefore, chain- and step-growth polymerized PEG hydrogels with macroscopically similar macromers and compliance (for example, methacrylate-functionalized PEG (PEGDM), MW = 10 kDa and norbornene-functionalized 4-arm PEG (PEGnorb), MW = 10 kDa) were used to examine potential nanoscale differences in hydrogel mechanics and hydrophobicity using atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that chain-growth polymerized network yielded greater heterogeneities in both stiffness and hydrophobicity as compared to step-growth polymerized networks. These nanoscale heterogeneities impact cell-material interactions, particularly human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) adhesion and spreading, which has implications in use of these hydrogels for tissue engineering applications. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 1112-1122, 2017.

Inhibition of αvß5 Integrin Attenuates Vascular Permeability and Protects against Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a leading cause of AKI. This common clinical complication lacks effective therapies and can lead to the development of CKD. The αvß5 integrin may have an important role in acute injury, including septic shock and acute lung injury. To examine its function in AKI, we utilized a specific function-blocking antibody to inhibit αvß5 in a rat model of renal IRI. Pretreatment with this anti-αvß5 antibody significantly reduced serum creatinine levels, diminished renal damage detected by histopathologic evaluation, and decreased levels of injury biomarkers. Notably, therapeutic treatment with the αvß5 antibody 8 hours after IRI also provided protection from injury. Global gene expression profiling of post-ischemic kidneys showed that αvß5 inhibition affected established injury markers and induced pathway alterations previously shown to be protective. Intravital imaging of post-ischemic kidneys revealed reduced vascular leak with αvß5 antibody treatment. Immunostaining for αvß5 in the kidney detected evident expression in perivascular cells, with negligible expression in the endothelium. Studies in a three-dimensional microfluidics system identified a pericyte-dependent role for αvß5 in modulating vascular leak. Additional studies showed αvß5 functions in the adhesion and migration of kidney pericytes in vitro Initial studies monitoring renal blood flow after IRI did not find significant effects with αvß5 inhibition; however, future studies should explore the contribution of vasomotor effects. These studies identify a role for αvß5 in modulating injury-induced renal vascular leak, possibly through effects on pericyte adhesion and migration, and reveal αvß5 inhibition as a promising therapeutic strategy for AKI.

Gram-Scale Laboratory Synthesis of TC AC 28, a High-Affinity BET Bromodomain Ligand.

TC AC 28, 6-(1H-Indol-4-yl)-8-methoxy-1-methyl-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine-4-acetic acid methyl ester, has been synthesized on a near-gram scale in seven steps with notable improvements in the reported poor-yielding last two steps enabling this key chemical probe compound to be available for researchers.

Maintenance of vascular integrity by pericytes is essential for normal kidney function.

Pericytes are tissue-resident mesenchymal progenitor cells anatomically associated with the vasculature that have been shown to participate in tissue regeneration. Here, we tested the hypothesis that kidney pericytes, derived from FoxD1+ mesodermal progenitors during embryogenesis, are necessary for postnatal kidney homeostasis. Diphtheria toxin delivery to FoxD1Cre::RsDTR transgenic mice resulted in selective ablation of >90% of kidney pericytes but not other cell lineages. Abrupt increases in plasma creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, and albuminuria within 96 h indicated acute kidney injury in pericyte-ablated mice. Loss of pericytes led to a rapid accumulation of neutral lipid vacuoles, swollen mitochondria, and apoptosis in tubular epithelial cells. Pericyte ablation led to endothelial cell swelling, reduced expression of vascular homeostasis markers, and peritubular capillary loss. Despite the observed injury, no signs of the acute inflammatory response were observed. Pathway enrichment analysis of genes expressed in kidney pericytes in vivo identified basement membrane proteins, angiogenic factors, and factors regulating vascular tone as major regulators of vascular function. Using novel microphysiological devices, we recapitulated human kidney peritubular capillaries coated with pericytes and showed that pericytes regulate permeability, basement membrane deposition, and microvascular tone. These findings suggest that through the active support of the microvasculature, pericytes are essential to adult kidney homeostasis.

A simple approach for bioactive surface calibration using evanescent waves.

When investigating the interaction of cells with surfaces, it is becoming increasingly important to perform quantitative measurements of surface protein density to understand reaction kinetics. Previously, to calibrate a surface for an experiment one would have to use a radiometric assay or strip the surface with acid and perform a mass quantification. Although both of these methodologies have been proven to be effective measurement techniques for surface quantification, they can be time consuming and require substantial amounts of material. The latter is particularly problematic when working with specialized molecules or constructs that may be expensive to produce and/or only available in small quantities. Here we present a simple method to measure the intensity and penetration depth of an evanescent wave, and use this information to quantify the density of surface molecules in a microscopic region of a transparent surface.

Halloysite Nanotube Coatings Suppress Leukocyte Spreading.

The nanoscale topography of adhesive surfaces is known to be an important factor governing cellular behavior. Previous work has shown that surface coatings composed of halloysite nanotubes enhance the adhesion, and therefore capture of, rare target cells such as circulating tumor cells. Here we demonstrate a unique feature of these coatings in their ability to reduce the adhesion of leukocytes and prevent leukocyte spreading. Surfaces were prepared with coatings of halloysite nanotubes and functionalized for leukocyte adhesion with E-selectin, and the dilution of nanotube concentration revealed a threshold concentration below which cell spreading became comparable to smooth surfaces. Evaluation of surface roughness characteristics determined that the average distance between discrete surface features correlated with adhesion metrics, with a separation distance of ∼2 µm identified as the critical threshold. Computational modeling of the interaction of leukocytes with halloysite nanotube-coated surfaces of varying concentrations demonstrates that the geometry of the cell surface and adhesive counter-surface produces a significantly diminished effective contact area compared to a leukocyte interacting with a smooth surface.

Cell surface topography is a regulator of molecular interactions during chemokine-induced neutrophil spreading.

Adhesive interactions between neutrophils and endothelium involve chemokine-induced neutrophil spreading and subsequent crawling on the endothelium to sites of transmigration. We investigated the importance of cell topography in this process using immunofluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, and live-cell imaging using total internal reflectance microscopy to observe redistribution of key membrane proteins, both laterally and relative to surface topography, during neutrophil spreading onto glass coated with interleukin 8. During formation of the lamellipod, L-selectin is distributed on microvilli tips along the top of the lamellipodium, whereas the interleukin 8 receptors CXCR1 and CXCR2 and the integrin LFA-1 (αLß2) were present at the interface between the lamellipodium and the substrate. Total internal reflection fluorescence imaging indicated that LFA-1 and both chemokine receptors redistributed into closer contact with the substrate as the cells spread onto the surface and remodeled their topography. A geometric model of the surface remodeling with nonuniform distribution of molecules and a realistic distribution of microvilli heights was matched to the data, and the fits indicated a 1000-fold increase in the concentration of chemokine receptors and integrins available for bond formation at the interface. These observations imply that topographical remodeling is a key mechanism for regulating cell adhesion and surface-induced activation of cells.

Highly permeable silicon membranes for shear free chemotaxis and rapid cell labeling.

Microfluidic systems are powerful tools for cell biology studies because they enable the precise addition and removal of solutes in small volumes. However, the fluid forces inherent in the use of microfluidics for cell cultures are sometimes undesirable. An important example is chemotaxis systems where fluid flow creates well-defined and steady chemotactic gradients but also pushes cells downstream. Here we demonstrate a chemotaxis system in which two chambers are separated by a molecularly thin (15 nm), transparent, and nanoporous silicon membrane. One chamber is a microfluidic channel that carries a flow-generated gradient while the other chamber is a shear-free environment for cell observation. The molecularly thin membranes provide effectively no resistance to molecular diffusion between the two chambers, making them ideal elements for creating flow-free chambers in microfluidic systems. Analytical and computational flow models that account for membrane and chamber geometry, predict shear reduction of more than five orders of magnitude. This prediction is confirmed by observing the pure diffusion of nanoparticles in the cell-hosting chamber despite high input flow (Q = 10 µL min(-1); vavg ~ 45 mm min(-1)) in the flow chamber only 15 nm away. Using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, we show that a flow-generated molecular gradient will pass through the membrane into the quiescent cell chamber. Finally we demonstrate that our device allows us to expose migrating neutrophils to a chemotactic gradient or fluorescent label without any influence from flow.

Quantifying the mechanical properties of the endothelial glycocalyx with atomic force microscopy.

Our understanding of the interaction of leukocytes and the vessel wall during leukocyte capture is limited by an incomplete understanding of the mechanical properties of the endothelial surface layer. It is known that adhesion molecules on leukocytes are distributed non-uniformly relative to surface topography (3), that topography limits adhesive bond formation with other surfaces (9), and that physiological contact forces (≈ 5.0 - 10.0 pN per microvillus) can compress the microvilli to as little as a third of their resting length, increasing the accessibility of molecules to the opposing surface (3, 7). We consider the endothelium as a two-layered structure, the relatively rigid cell body, plus the glycocalyx, a soft protective sugar coating on the luminal surface (6). It has been shown that the glycocalyx can act as a barrier to reduce adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelial surface (4). In this report we begin to address the deformability of endothelial surfaces to understand how the endothelial mechanical stiffness might affect bond formation. Endothelial cells grown in static culture do not express a robust glycocalyx, but cells grown under physiological flow conditions begin to approximate the glycocalyx observed in vivo (2). The modulus of the endothelial cell body has been measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM) to be approximately 5 to 20 kPa (5). The thickness and structure of the glycocalyx have been studied using electron microscopy (8), and the modulus of the glycocalyx has been approximated using indirect methods, but to our knowledge, there have been no published reports of a direct measurement of the glycocalyx modulus in living cells. In this study, we present indentation experiments made with a novel AFM probe on cells that have been cultured in conditions to maximize their glycocalyx expression to make direct measurements of the modulus and thickness of the endothelial glycocalyx.