Temperature-jump studies on the interaction of benzeneboronic acid with chymotrypsinogen.
(1/1529)
The interaction of chymotrypsinogen A with benzeneboronic acid (BBA), a transition state along inhibitor of serine proteases, was investigated by the temperature-jump method using pH indicators. It was found that l/tau is dependent on BBA concentration, in contrast to the case of the alpha-chymotrypsin [EC 3.4.21.1]-BBA system in which l/tau is independent of BBA concentration. By examination of the pH dependences of the kinetic parameters, the acid dissociation behavior of His 57 in chymotrypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen-trigonal BBA complex and chymotrypsinogen-tetrahedral BBA complex was analyzed. The kinetic deuterium isotope effect was also examined and found to occur principally on the acid dissociation constants. The state of the catalytic residues in the zymogen molecule is discussed based on these results. (+info)
Proteasome inhibitors: a novel class of potent and effective antitumor agents.
(2/1529)
The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway plays a critical role in the regulated degradation of proteins involved in cell cycle control and tumor growth. Dysregulating the degradation of such proteins should have profound effects on tumor growth and cause cells to undergo apoptosis. To test this hypothesis, we developed a novel series of proteasome inhibitors, exemplified by PS-341, which we describe here. As determined by the National Cancer Institute in vitro screen, PS-341 has substantial cytotoxicity against a broad range of human tumor cells, including prostate cancer cell lines. The PC-3 prostate cell line was, therefore, chosen to further examine the antitumor activity of PS-341. In vitro, PS-341 elicits proteasome inhibition, leading to an increase in the intracellular levels of specific proteins, including the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p21. Moreover, exposure of such cells to PS-341 caused them to accumulate in the G2-M phase of the cell cycle and subsequently undergo apoptosis, as indicated by nuclear condensation and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. Following weekly i.v. treatment of PS-341 to mice bearing the PC-3 tumor, a significant decrease (60%) in tumor burden was observed in vivo. Direct injection of PS-341 into the tumor also caused a substantial (70%) decrease in tumor volume with 40% of the drug-treated mice having no detectable tumors at the end of the study. Studies also revealed that i.v. administration of PS-341 resulted in a rapid and widespread distribution of PS-341, with highest levels identified in the liver and gastrointestinal tract and lowest levels in the skin and muscle. Modest levels were found in the prostate, whereas there was no apparent penetration of the central nervous system. An assay to follow the biological activity of the PS-341 was established and used to determine temporal drug activity as well as its ability to penetrate tissues. As such, PS-341 was shown to penetrate PC-3 tumors and inhibit intracellular proteasome activity 1.0 h after i.v. dosing. These data illustrate that PS-341 not only reaches its biological target but has a direct effect on its biochemical target, the proteasome. Importantly, the data show that inhibition of this target site by PS-341 results in reduced tumor growth in murine tumor models. Together, the results highlight that the proteasome is a novel biochemical target and that inhibitors such as PS-341 represent a unique class of antitumor agents. PS-341 is currently under clinical evaluation for advanced cancers. (+info)
A novel apoptotic pathway in quiescent lymphocytes identified by inhibition of a post-proline cleaving aminodipeptidase: a candidate target protease, quiescent cell proline dipeptidase.
(3/1529)
The vast majority of lymphocytes in vivo persist in a quiescent state. These resting lymphocytes are maintained through a cellular program that suppresses apoptosis. We show here that quiescent PBMC, but not activated PBMC or transformed lymphocytes, die in the presence of highly specific post-proline aminodipeptidase inhibitors. This form of death has the hallmarks of apoptosis, such as phosphatidylserine externalization and loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential. However, it differs from apoptosis induced by gamma irradiation in the same cells or by Fas ligation in transformed lymphocytes in terms of caspase involvement. In addition, the aminodipeptidase inhibitor-induced cell death, but not gamma-irradiation-mediated apoptosis, can be prevented by inhibition of the proteasome complex. The target of these inhibitors is not CD26/DPPIV, but probably a novel serine protease, quiescent cell proline dipeptidase, that we have recently isolated and cloned. These studies will yield a better understanding of the requirements and the mechanisms that mediate quiescent lymphocyte homeostasis in vivo. (+info)
The proteasome inhibitor PS-341 in cancer therapy.
(4/1529)
The anticancer activity of the boronic acid dipeptide proteasome inhibitor PS-341 was examined in vitro and in vivo. PS-341 was a potent cytotoxic agent toward MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells in culture, producing an IC90 of 0.05 microM on 24 h of exposure to the drug. In the EMT-6 tumor cell survival assay, PS-341 was equally cytotoxic administered p.o. or by i.p. injection up to a dose of 2 mg/kg. PS-341 was also toxic to the bone marrow colony-forming unit-granulocyte macrophage. PS-341 increased the tumor cell killing of radiation therapy, cyclophosphamide, and cisplatin in the EMT-6/Parent tumor, but was not able to overcome the in vivo resistance of the EMT-6/CTX and EMT-6/CDDP tumors. In the tumor growth delay assay, PS-341 administered p.o. had antitumor activity against the Lewis lung carcinoma, both primary and metastatic disease. In combination, regimens with 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, Taxol and adriamycin, PS-341 seemed to produce primarily additive tumor growth delays against the s.c. tumor and was highly effective against disease metastatic to the lungs. The proteasome is an interesting new target for cancer therapy, and the proteasome inhibitor PS-341 warrants continued investigation in cancer therapy. (+info)
The complexed structure and antimicrobial activity of a non-beta-lactam inhibitor of AmpC beta-lactamase.
(5/1529)
Beta-lactamases are the major resistance mechanism to beta-lactam antibiotics and pose a growing threat to public health. Recently, bacteria have become resistant to beta-lactamase inhibitors, making this problem pressing. In an effort to overcome this resistance, non-beta-lactam inhibitors of beta-lactamases were investigated for complementarity to the structure of AmpC beta-lactamase from Escherichia coli. This led to the discovery of an inhibitor, benzo(b)thiophene-2-boronic acid (BZBTH2B), which inhibited AmpC with a Ki of 27 nM. This inhibitor is chemically dissimilar to beta-lactams, raising the question of what specific interactions are responsible for its activity. To answer this question, the X-ray crystallographic structure of BZBTH2B in complex with AmpC was determined to 2.25 A resolution. The structure reveals several unexpected interactions. The inhibitor appears to complement the conserved, R1-amide binding region of AmpC, despite lacking an amide group. Interactions between one of the boronic acid oxygen atoms, Tyr150, and an ordered water molecule suggest a mechanism for acid/base catalysis and a direction for hydrolytic attack in the enzyme catalyzed reaction. To investigate how a non-beta-lactam inhibitor would perform against resistant bacteria, BZBTH2B was tested in antimicrobial assays. BZBTH2B significantly potentiated the activity of a third-generation cephalosporin against AmpC-producing resistant bacteria. This inhibitor was unaffected by two common resistance mechanisms that often arise against beta-lactams in conjunction with beta-lactamases. Porin channel mutations did not decrease the efficacy of BZBTH2B against cells expressing AmpC. Also, this inhibitor did not induce expression of AmpC, a problem with many beta-lactams. The structure of the BZBTH2B/AmpC complex provides a starting point for the structure-based elaboration of this class of non-beta-lactam inhibitors. (+info)
Characterization of peptidyl boronic acid inhibitors of mammalian 20 S and 26 S proteasomes and their inhibition of proteasomes in cultured cells.
(6/1529)
Proteasomes are large multisubunit proteinases which have several distinct catalytic sites. In this study a series of di- and tri-peptidyl boronic acids have been tested on the chymotrypsin-like activity of purified mammalian 20 S and 26 S proteasomes assayed with succinyl-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-amidomethylcoumarin (suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-AMC) as substrate. The inhibition of 20 S proteasomes is competitive but only slowly reversible. The K(i) values for the best inhibitors were in the range 10-100 nM with suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-AMC as substrate, but the compounds tested were much less effective on other proteasome activities measured with other substrates. Free boronic acid inhibitors exhibited equivalent potency to their pinacol esters. Both benzoyl (Bz)-Phe-boroLeu and benzyloxycarbonyl (Cbz)-Leu-Leu-boroLeu pinacol ester inhibited 20 S and 26 S proteasomes with non-ideal behaviour, differences in inhibition of the two forms of proteasomes becoming apparent at high inhibitor concentrations (above 3xK(i)). Both of these compounds were also potent inhibitors of 20 S and 26 S proteasomes in cultured cells. However, gel filtration of cell extracts prepared from cells treated with radiolabelled phenacetyl-Leu-Leu-boroLeu showed that only 20 S proteasomes were strongly labelled, demonstrating differences in the characteristics of inhibition of 20 S and 26 S proteasomes. The usefulness of peptidyl boronic acid inhibitors for investigations of proteasome-mediated protein degradation was confirmed by the observation that Bz-Phe-boroLeu and Cbz-Leu-Leu-boroLeu pinacol ester inhibited NFkappaB activation with IC(50) values comparable to their K(i) values for purified proteasomes. The latter result supports the view that the chymotrypsin-like activity of proteasomes assayed with suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-AMC is a critical one for protein degradation in cells. (+info)
BACKGROUND: PS-341, a selective inhibitor of the proteasome, currently is under evaluation as an anticancer agent in multiple phase I clinical trials. In animal-model studies, PS-341 was rapidly removed from the vascular compartment and distributed widely, quickly approaching the limits of detection. An accurate pharmacodynamic assay has been developed as an alternative or complement to pharmacokinetic measurements. METHODS: Fluorogenic kinetic assays for both the chymotryptic and tryptic activities of the proteasome have been optimized for both whole blood and blood cells. Using the ratio of these activities and the catalytic mechanism of the proteasome, we developed a novel method of calculating percentage of inhibition, using two structurally unrelated inhibitors (PS-341 and lactacystin). RESULTS: This ratio method was demonstrated to be sensitive (detection limit of 13% inhibition with 10 microgram of cell lysate), specific to the proteasome (PS-341 provides >98% inhibition), accurate (112% analyte recovery), and precise (0% +/- 5% inhibition at 0 nmol/L PS-341 and 74.5% +/- 1.7% inhibition at 200 nmol/L PS-341). Using these assays, we found that both erythrocytes and leukocytes contain proteasome at 3 micromol/L. Pharmacodynamic results for PS-341 obtained from the whole-blood ratio method were comparable to those using leukocytes determined by another method. CONCLUSIONS: The described assay provides a reliable method for studying the pharmacodynamics of proteasome inhibitors and is now in use in concurrent phase I clinical trials with PS-341. (+info)
Lack of multicellular drug resistance observed in human ovarian and prostate carcinoma treated with the proteasome inhibitor PS-341.
(8/1529)
Almost all known conventional cytotoxic anticancer drugs are less effective in killing tumor cells grown as multicellular spheroids than in killing tumor cells grown as monolayer cell cultures. This "multicellular resistance" reflects the relative intrinsic drug-resistant phenotype of most solid tumors growing in vivo and is due to factors such as limited drug penetration or reduced fractions of proliferating cells. Proteasome inhibitors such as PS-341, a dipeptide boronic acid analogue, represent an interesting new class of potential anticancer drugs, which are entering early-phase clinical trials. PS-341 has been found to have good broad-spectrum cytotoxic activity in the 60-monolayer cell line National Cancer Institute screen. However, because its relative potency has not been tested in spheroid systems, we analyzed the activity of PS-341 in a spheroid/solid tumor context using four different human ovarian carcinoma cell lines and three prostate carcinoma cell lines, respectively. We found, with one exception, that PS-341 showed equal or greater activity in spheroids than in the respective monolayer cell cultures, even in a prostate cancer spheroid model with a very low growth fraction. PS-341 induced apoptotic cell death in carcinoma cells in both culture systems. We also noted a decrease in XIAP protein, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) family of apoptosis inhibitors, and phosphorylation of Bcl-XL in PS-341-treated ovarian carcinoma cells. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation, a hallmark of apoptosis (in this case, induced by PS-341), was completely inhibited by the caspase inhibitor N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (Z-VAD). Taken together, the results indicate that unlike most other known anticancer cytotoxic drugs, PS-341 appears to be as effective in killing tumor cells grown in the form of multicell spheroids as in killing tumor cells grown in monolayer cell culture. Hence, this compound has the potential to circumvent multicellular drug resistance and, as such, may show promising activity against solid tumors with low growth fractions in vivo, which are frequently intrinsically resistant to conventional cytotoxic anticancer drugs. (+info)