Paclitaxel succinate analogs: Anionic and amide introduction as a strategy to impart blood-brain barrier permeability.

A focused library of TX-67 (C10 hemi-succinate) analogs has been prepared, including C7 regioisomers, esters, amides, and one-carbon homologs. These were prepared to investigate whether the lack of TX-67 interaction with P-glycoprotein (Pgp) is due to the presence of the carboxylic acid moiety and whether this phenomenon was restricted to C10 analogs. Tubulin stabilization ability, cytotoxicity, and Pgp interactions were evaluated. All carboxylic acid analogs and several of the amides had no apparent interactions with Pgp at the concentrations used, whereas the ester variants displayed characteristics of Pgp substrates. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that hydrogen-bonding properties were significant with respect to Pgp interactions. Calculations of logD and cross-sectional areas revealed that these analogs are predicted to partition into the membrane and can compete for Pgp binding sites. The anionic and amide introduction strategy may allow for delivery of paclitaxel into the CNS and may be a potential approach for the delivery of other, structurally complex and lipophilic non-CNS permeable drugs.

Foldon, the natural trimerization domain of T4 fibritin, dissociates into a monomeric A-state form containing a stable beta-hairpin: atomic details of trimer dissociation and local beta-hairpin stability from residual dipolar couplings.

The C-terminal domain of T4 fibritin (foldon) is obligatory for the formation of the fibritin trimer structure and can be used as an artificial trimerization domain. Its native structure consists of a trimeric beta-hairpin propeller. At low pH, the foldon trimer disintegrates into a monomeric (A-state) form that has similar properties as that of an early intermediate of the trimer folding pathway. The formation of this A-state monomer from the trimer, its structure, thermodynamic stability, equilibrium association and folding dynamics have been characterized to atomic detail by modern high-resolution NMR techniques. The foldon A-state monomer forms a beta-hairpin with intact and stable H-bonds that is similar to the monomer in the foldon trimer, but lacks a defined structure in its N and C-terminal parts. Its thermodynamic stability in pure water is comparable to designed hairpins stabilized in alcohol/water mixtures. Details of the thermal unfolding of the foldon A-state have been characterized by chemical shifts and residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) detected in inert, mechanically stretched polyacrylamide gels. At the onset of the thermal transition, uniform relative changes in RDC values indicate a uniform decrease of local N-HN and Calpha-Halpha order parameters for the hairpin strand residues. In contrast, near-turn residues show particular thermal stability in RDC values and hence in local order parameters. This coincides with increased transition temperatures of the beta-turn residues observed by chemical shifts. At high temperatures, the RDCs converge to non-zero average values consistent with predictions from random chain polymer models. Residue-specific deviations above the unfolding transition reveal the persistence of residual order around proline residues, large hydrophobic residues and at the beta-turn.

Very fast folding and association of a trimerization domain from bacteriophage T4 fibritin.

The foldon domain constitutes the C-terminal 30 amino acid residues of the trimeric protein fibritin from bacteriophage T4. Its function is to promote folding and trimerization of fibritin. We investigated structure, stability and folding mechanism of the isolated foldon domain. The domain folds into the same trimeric beta-propeller structure as in fibritin and undergoes a two-state unfolding transition from folded trimer to unfolded monomers. The folding kinetics involve several consecutive reactions. Structure formation in the region of the single beta-hairpin of each monomer occurs on the submillisecond timescale. This reaction is followed by two consecutive association steps with rate constants of 1.9(+/-0.5)x10(6)M(-1)s(-1) and 5.4(+/-0.3)x10(6)M(-1)s(-1) at 0.58 M GdmCl, respectively. This is similar to the fastest reported bimolecular association reactions for folding of dimeric proteins. At low concentrations of protein, folding shows apparent third-order kinetics. At high concentrations of protein, the reaction becomes almost independent of protein concentrations with a half-time of about 3 ms, indicating that a first-order folding step from a partially folded trimer to the native protein (k=210 +/- 20 s(-1)) becomes rate-limiting. Our results suggest that all steps on the folding/trimerization pathway of the foldon domain are evolutionarily optimized for rapid and specific initiation of trimer formation during fibritin assembly. The results further show that beta-hairpins allow efficient and rapid protein-protein interactions during folding.