RBx-0597, a potent, selective and slow-binding inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidase-IV for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibiton is a well recognized approach to treat Type 2 diabetes. RBx-0597 is a novel DPP-IV inhibitor discovered in our laboratory. The aim of the present study was to characterize the pharmacological profiles of RBx-0597 in vitro and in vivo as an anti-diabetic agent. RBx-0597 inhibited human, mouse and rat plasma DPP-IV activity with IC(50) values of 32, 31 and 39nM respectively. RBx-0597 exhibited significant selectivity over dipeptidyl peptidase8 (DPP-8), dipeptidyl peptidase9 (DPP-9) (150-300 fold) and other proline-specific proteases (>200-2000 fold). Kinetic analysis revealed that RBx-0597 is a competitive and slow binding DPP-IV inhibitor. In ob/ob mice, RBx-0597 (10mg/kg) inhibited plasma DPP-IV activity upto 50% 8h post-dose and showed a dose-dependent glucose excursion. RBx-0597 (10mg/kg) showed a significant glucose lowering effect (∼25% AUC of △ blood glucose) which was sustained till 12h, significantly increased the active glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1) and insulin levels. It showed a favourable pharmacokinetic profile (plasma clearance:174ml/min/kg; C(max) 292ng/ml; T(1/2) 0.28h; T(max) 0.75h and V(ss) 4.13L/kg) in Wistar rats with the oral bioavailability (F(oral)) of 65%. In summary, the present studies indicate that RBx-0597 is a novel DPP-IV inhibitor with anti-hyperglycemic effect and a promising candidate for further development as a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Identification of berberine as a novel agonist of fatty acid receptor GPR40.

Several herbal plants such as Chinese herb Rhizoma Coptidis have been reported to possess antidiabetic activity. Berberine is its major active constituent and functions as an insulin sensitizer and insulin secretagogue. It has been reported to modulate several signaling pathways and targets. The objective of the current study is to investigate if berberine can function as a ligand of fatty acid receptor GPR40, which stimulates glucose dependent insulin secretion. Towards this objective, a mammalian cell line with stable overexpression of GPR40 was generated and characterized. Berberine stimulated calcium mobilization with an EC(50) of 0.76 microM in this GPR40 overexpressing cell line. Further, berberine stimulated glucose dependent insulin secretion from rat pancreatic beta cell line. This suggests that berberine functions as an agonist of fatty acid receptor GPR40 and might be a novel antidiabetic mechanism of action for berberine.

Baculovirus expression system: an alternative for producing catalytically active human PTP-1B.

Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) play multiple roles in many physiological processes. Over-expression of the PTPs has been shown to be associated with cellular toxicity, which may also lead to the deletion of the respective gene from stable cell clones. We also observed that PTP-1B over-expression in CHO and HEK293 stable cell clones led to cytotoxicity and low revival rates during clone generation and maintenance. To address these issues, bacmid transposition technology was utilized to generate recombinant PTP-1B baculovirus, and Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9 and Sf21) insect cell lines were infected with the virus. The data obtained on expression and activity of the PTP-1B highlights clear advantage of the recombinant baculovirus-insect cell expression system over the mammalian cell line technique due to increase in enzyme activity, strongly inhibited by phosphatase specific inhibitor RK682. Possible application of the expression system for producing active enzymes in bulk quantity for a new drug discovery is also discussed.

Ratiometric Ca+2 measurement in human recombinant muscarinic receptor subtypes using the Flexstation scanning fluorometer.

In modern drug discovery, numerous assay formats are available to screen and quantitate receptor-ligand interactions. Radioactive assays are "gold standard" because they are fast, easy, and reproducible; however, they are hazardous, produce radioactive waste, require special lab conditions, and are expensive on a large scale. Thus, it provides a lot of importance to the "mix & measure" assays that have an optical readout. Fluorescence techniques are likely to be among the most important detection approaches used for high throughput screening due to their high sensitivity and amenability to automation. The aim of the present study was to determine the functional antagonistic affinities of standard muscarinic antagonists in CHO cells over expressing m1, m3, and m5 receptors and to compare them with the respective binding affinities. This study was further extended to elucidate that Ca+2 measurement assays can serve as a functional screening tool for GPCRs. For this purpose, standard muscarinic receptor antagonists, namely, tolterodine, oxybutynin, and atropine were used. We determined and compared the IC50 values of these three standard inhibitors in fura 2 AM loaded m1, m3, and m5 overexpressing CHO cells and in radioligand binding assay. Both the assays exhibited comparable rank order potencies of the standard inhibitors. This study suggests that Ca+2 mobilization assays can be an alternate to radioligand binding assays.