Enhancing Stability and Albumin Binding Efficiency of α-Conotoxin GI through Fatty Acid Modification.

α-Conotoxin GI is a competitive blocker of muscle-type acetylcholine receptors and holds the potential for being developed as a molecular probe or a lead compound for drug discovery. In this study, four fatty acid-modified α-conotoxin GI analogues of different lengths were synthesized by using a fatty acid modification strategy. Then, we performed a series of in vitro stability assays, albumin binding assays, and pharmacological activity assays to evaluate these modified mutants. The experimental results showed that the presence of fatty acids significantly enhanced the in vitro stability and albumin binding ability of α-conotoxin GI and that this effect was proportional to the length of the fatty acids used. Pharmacological activity tests showed that the modified mutants maintained a good acetylcholine receptor antagonistic activity. The present study shows that fatty acid modification can be an effective strategy to significantly improve conotoxin stability and albumin binding efficiency while maintaining the original targeting ion channel activity.

Virtual screening of novel mTOR inhibitors for the potential treatment of human colorectal cancer.

The abnormal activation of the mTOR pathway is closely related to the occurrence and progression of cancer, especially colorectal cancer. In this study, a rational virtual screening strategy has been established and MT-5, a novel mTOR inhibitor with a quinoline scaffold, was obtained from the ChemDiv database. MT-5 showed potent kinase inhibitory activity (IC50: 8.90 µM) and antiproliferative effects against various cancer cell lines, especially HCT-116 cells (IC50: 4.61 µM), and this was 2.2-fold more potent than that of the cisplatin control (IC50: 9.99 µM). Western blot, cell migration, cycle arrest, and apoptosis assays were performed with HCT-116 cells to investigate the potential anticancer mechanism of MT-5. Metabolic stability results in vitro indicated that MT-5 exhibited good stability profiles in artificial gastrointestinal fluids, rat plasma, and liver microsomes. In addition, the key contribution of the residues around the binding pocket of MT-5 in binding to the mTOR protein was also investigated from a computational perspective.

Molecular Determinants of Species Specificity of α-Conotoxin TxIB towards Rat and Human α6/α3ß4 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors.

Conotoxins are widely distributed and important for studying ligand-gated ion channels. TxIB, a conotoxin consisting of 16 amino acids derived from Conus textile, is a unique selective ligand that blocks rat α6/α3ß2ß3 nAChR (IC50 = 28 nM) without affecting other rat subtypes. However, when the activity of TxIB against human nAChRs was examined, it was unexpectedly found that TxIB had a significant blocking effect on not only human α6/α3ß2ß3 nAChR but also human α6/α3ß4 nAChR, with an IC50 of 537 nM. To investigate the molecular mechanism of this species specificity and to establish a theoretical basis for drug development studies of TxIB and its analogs, different amino acid residues between human and rat α6/α3 and ß4 nAChR subunits were identified. Each residue of the human species was then substituted with the corresponding residue of the rat species via PCR-directed mutagenesis. The potencies of TxIB towards the native α6/α3ß4 nAChRs and their mutants were evaluated through electrophysiological experiments. The results showed that the IC50 of TxIB against h[α6V32L, K61R/α3]ß4L107V, V115I was 22.5 µM, a 42-fold decrease in potency compared to the native hα6/α3ß4 nAChR. Val-32 and Lys-61 in the human α6/α3 subunit and Leu-107 and Val-115 in the human ß4 subunit, together, were found to determine the species differences in the α6/α3ß4 nAChR. These results also demonstrate that the effects of species differences between humans and rats should be fully considered when evaluating the efficacy of drug candidates targeting nAChRs in rodent models.

Effects of the RNA-binding protein, KSRP, on innate immune response against Helicobacter pylori infection in mice.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) contributes to various gastric diseases such as chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer, and gastric carcinoma. Host innate immune response against the pathogen plays a significant role in elimination of pathogen infection. Importantly, pathogen elimination is closely related to numerous inflammatory-related genes that participate in complex biological response of cells to harmful stimuli. Here we studied effects of the KH-type splicing regulatory protein (KSRP), a RNA-binding protein, on innate immune response against H. pylori infection. We found that H. pylori infection downregulated KSRP expression directly, and that KSRP overexpression repressed upregulation of CXCL-2 expression induced by H. pylori and facilitated H. pylori proliferation in vitro. Similarly, KSRP overexpression in H. pylori mice also facilitated H. pylori proliferation and colonization, and induced more severe gastric mucosal damage. Intriguingly, CXCL-2 and HMOX-1 were upregulated in H. pylori infected mice after KSRP overexpression. This difference in expression of these genes implicated that KSRP was closely associated with and directly participated in the innate immune response against H. pylori. These results were beneficial for understanding the in vivo function of KSRP on innate immune response against pathogen infection.

KH-type splicing regulatory protein mediate inflammatory response in gastric epithelial cells induced by lipopolysaccharide.

To study differential expressions of KH-type splicing regulatory protein (KSRP) and inflammatory factors and to explore the relationship between them in Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced gastric epithelial cells (GES-1), cells were exposed to LPS for 24 h in the presence or absence of SC-514. Western blot and real-time PCR (RT-PCR) were used to analysis the contents of KSRP, inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). The results showed that LPS decreased the expression of KSRP protein in GES-1 cells, but not KSRP mRNA, while increasing the levels of iNOS and COX-2 proteins and mRNAs in GES-1cells. High expression of KSRP induced low expressions and stabilities of iNOS and COX-2 in GES-1 cells, indicated that KSRP protein presented negative correlation with iNOS and COX-2 with LPS stimulation. In conclusion, the regulation of expression of KSRP was mainly achieved through post-translational modification. KSRP protein participated in regulating the expression of iNOS and COX-2 in their transcription and translation levels. In response to LPS or gram negative pathogenic microorganism, KSRP could regulate Toll-like receptor (TLR)/ Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signal pathway in GES-1 cells.

A Vector-Based Short Hairpin RNA Targeting Aurora B Suppresses Human Prostatic Carcinoma Growth.

Aurora kinase B, playing a vital, important role in mitosis, is frequently detected to be overexpressed in many cancer cell lines and various tumor tissues, including prostatic carcinoma. Given the essential function of Aurora kinase B in mitosis and its association with tumorigenesis, it might be a drug target for prostatic carcinoma treatment. In our study, short hairpin RNA targeting Aurora kinase B was cloned into a pGPU6 plasmid vector and then transfected into human prostatic carcinoma cells. The expression level of Aurora kinase B was verified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. At the same time, cell apoptosis was detected by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide, fluorescent staining, and flow cytometric analysis. Furthermore, prostate carcinoma cells were injected into mice to establish a tumor xenograft model. Previous studies have shown the effect of pGPU6-shAURKB plasmid on tumor growth in a prostate carcinoma xenogenic implantation model. From the study, we knew that the Aurora kinase B was significantly downregulated in prostate carcinoma cells, and cell apoptosis was also detected higher in treated groups than that in control groups. Moreover, in the prostate carcinoma xenogenic implantation model, compared with the control groups, the tumor growth was inhibited about 78.7% in the pGPU6-shAURKB plasmid-treated group, and cell apoptosis in the experimental group was notably higher than that in control groups. The average duration of tumor-bearing mice was prolonged to about 35 days. The results of experiment indicated that specific knockdown of Aurora kinase B led to prostate carcinoma cells apoptosis and inhibited tumor growth. Our data clearly confirmed that specific knockdown of Aurora kinase B expression by vector-based short hairpin RNA/liposome may be a potential new approach to treat human prostatic carcinoma.

Antibacterial activity of Pyrrosia petiolosa ethyl acetate extract against Staphylococcus aureus by decreasing hla and sea virulence genes.

The aim of this study was to explore the antibacterial activity of Pyrrosia petiolosa ethyl acetate extract (PPEAE) against Staphylococcus aureus in vitro and analyse its chemical components by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry. The results of anti-microbial assay revealed that PPEAE had strong inhibitory activity against S .aureus, with MIC and MBC of 7.8 and 15.6 mg/mL, respectively. The transcriptional levels of hla and sea were reduced to 14.33 and 46.39% at the MIC compared to the control. Analysing test result exhibited that eugenol made a great contribution to antibacterial activity. This experiment indicated that PPEAE had prominent antibacterial activity against S. aureus.

The biological activity of cationic liposomes in drug delivery and toxicity test in animal models.

In the study we made use of DOTAP (1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium), DOPE (1,2-dioleoyl-snglycero-3-phosphoethanolamine) and PEG-PE (polyethylene glycol- polyethylene) to make cationic PEG-liposomes by ultrasonic dispersion method. The plasmid pGPU6 combined with cationic PEG-liposomes or Liopofectamin 2000 was used to transfect PC3 cells to judge the transfection efficiency. HE staining showed that the pGUP6-shAurora B plasmid/liposomes complex could significantly inhibit tumor growth in mice tumor model. The results indicated that there was no remarkable difference between the homemade liposomes and Lipofectamin 2000 after transfection, with transfection efficiency over 80%. And the homemade liposomes also had high transfection efficiency in vivo. No significant side effects were observed on weight, coat condition, behavior or appetite and the life span of mice treated with pGPU6-shAurora B were extended. Beyond that, there were no differences in mortality or in pathological changes to the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys among all the mice.

The contribution of toll-like receptor 2 on Helicobacter pylori activation of the nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathway in gastric epithelial cells.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a spiral shaped gram-negative bacterium that induces immune responses in the gastric mucosa. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play important roles in mediating inflammatory cytokines by recognition of conserved molecular patterns on bacteria. Changes in the expression of toll-like receptor (TLR) 2, TLR4 and the relative inflammatory cytokines were analyzed in normal gastric epithelial GES-1 cells following treatment with H. pylori or Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (E. coli LPS) in order to investigate the contribution of TLRs in recognizing and mediating the inflammatory response to H. pylori, and study the differences in TLRs' performance between H. pylori and E. coli. Specific inhibitors for the declines in TLR2 and TLR4 were also employed. The results showed that H. pylori infection increased TLR2 expression in GES-1 cells, but TLR4 remained unchanged regardless of H. pylori or TLR2 small interfering RNA treatment. Furthermore, the secretion of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) induced by H. pylori was inhibited by declines in TLR2, but not in TLR4. In conclusion, TLR2 plays an even more important role than TLR4 not only in recognizing H. pylori, but also in the induction of inflammatory cytokines initiated by H. pylori. However, both TLR2 and TLR4 are necessary in mediating the inflammatory response to E. coli LPS.