Development of a Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatographic Method for Analysis of Urea Cycle Amino Acids.

The urea cycle has been found to be closely associated with certain types of cancers and other diseases such as cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. An analytical method for the precise quantification of urea cycle amino acids (arginine, ornithine, citrulline, and argininosuccinate) by off-line two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) combined with fluorescence-based detection was developed. Before analysis, the amino acids were derivatised with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F) to obtain NBD-amino acids. The first dimension involved the reversed-phase separation, in which NBD derivatives of urea cycle amino acids were completely separated from each other and mostly separated from the 18 NBD-proteinogenic amino acids. The samples were eluted with stepwise gradient using 0.02% trifluoroacetic acid in water-acetonitrile as the mobile phase. In the second dimension, an amino column was used for the separation of NBD-ornithine, -citrulline, and -argininosuccinate, while a sulfonic acid column was used to separate NBD-arginine. The developed 2D-LC system was used to analyse human plasma samples. The fractions of NBD-urea cycle amino acids obtained in the first dimension were collected manually and introduced into the second dimension. By choosing appropriate mobile phases for the second dimension, each NBD-urea cycle amino acid eluted in the first dimension was well separated from the other proteinogenic amino acids and interference from endogenous substance. This could not be achieved in the first dimension. The urea cycle amino acids in human plasma sample were quantified, and the method was well validated. The calibration curves for each NBD-urea cycle amino acid showed good linearity from 3 (ASA) or 15 (Orn, Cit, and Arg) to 600 nM, with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9969. The intraday and interday precisions were less than 7.9% and 15%, respectively. The 2D-LC system is expected to be useful for understanding the involvement of the urea cycle in disease progression.

Novel histone deacetylase inhibitors: cyclic tetrapeptide with trifluoromethyl and pentafluoroethyl ketones.

Cyclic tetrapeptides containing trifluoromethyl and pentafluoroethyl ketone as zinc binding functional group were synthesized as potent HDAC inhibitors. Evaluation by human HDAC inhibition assay and p21 promoter assay showed that these inhibitors are promising anticancer agents.

Synthesis and histone deacetylase inhibitory activity of cyclic tetrapeptides containing a retrohydroxamate as zinc ligand.

Cyclic tetrapeptide retrohydroxamic acids were prepared as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and evaluated the inhibitory activity and found that they have potential as anticancer drugs.

Toward an HDAC6 inhibitor: synthesis and conformational analysis of cyclic hexapeptide hydroxamic acid designed from alpha-tubulin sequence.

A cyclic hexapeptide hydroxamic acid inhibitor for HDAC6 has been designed and synthesized on the basis of the facts that alpha-tubulin is the substrate of HDAC6 and of the excellent inhibitory activity of cyclic tetrapeptide hydroxamic acids (CHAPs) for HDACs. Unexpectedly, cyclic hexapeptide hydroxamic acid showed very low HDAC inhibitory activity. To explain the low activity, we have carried out conformation analysis and compared it to the crystal structure of alpha-tubulin. The conformation around the acetylated lysine of the cyclic hexapeptide substrate or the aminosuberate hydroxamic acid [Asu(NHOH)] of cyclic hexapeptide inhibitor is different from that around alpha-tubulin's lysine-40. The difference in the conformation seems to cause some steric hindrance at the capping site resulting in poor binding capacity.

Cyclic tetrapeptides bearing a sulfhydryl group potently inhibit histone deacetylases.

New inhibitors of histone deacetylase (HDAC) containing a sulfhydryl group were designed on the basis of the corresponding hydroxamic acid (CHAP31) and FK228. Their disulfide dimers and hybrids exhibited potent HDAC inhibitory activity in vivo with potential as anticancer prodrugs. [structure: see text]

In vivo destabilization of dynamic microtubules by HDAC6-mediated deacetylation.

Trichostatin A (TSA) inhibits all histone deacetylases (HDACs) of both class I and II, whereas trapoxin (TPX) cannot inhibit HDAC6, a cytoplasmic member of class II HDACs. We took advantage of this differential sensitivity of HDAC6 to TSA and TPX to identify its substrates. Using this approach, alpha-tubulin was identified as an HDAC6 substrate. HDAC6 deacetylated alpha-tubulin both in vivo and in vitro. Our investigations suggest that HDAC6 controls the stability of a dynamic pool of microtubules. Indeed, we found that highly acetylated microtubules observed after TSA treatment exhibited delayed drug-induced depolymerization and that HDAC6 overexpression prompted their induced depolymerization. Depolymerized tubulin was rapidly deacetylated in vivo, whereas tubulin acetylation occurred only after polymerization. We therefore suggest that acetylation and deacetylation are coupled to the microtubule turnover and that HDAC6 plays a key regulatory role in the stability of the dynamic microtubules.