Bactericidal activity and mechanism of action of AZD5847, a novel oxazolidinone for treatment of tuberculosis.

Treatment of tuberculosis (TB) is impaired by the long duration and complexity of therapy and the rising incidence of drug resistance. There is an urgent need for new agents with improved efficacy, safety, and compatibility with combination chemotherapies. Oxazolidinones offer a potential new class of TB drugs, and linezolid-the only currently approved oxazolidinone-has proven highly effective against extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB in experimental trials. However, widespread use of linezolid is prohibited by its significant toxicities. AZD5847, a novel oxazolidinone, demonstrates improved in vitro bactericidal activity against both extracellular and intracellular M. tuberculosis compared to that of linezolid. Killing kinetics in broth media and in macrophages indicate that the rate and extent of kill obtained with AZD5847 are superior to those obtained with linezolid. Moreover, the efficacy of AZD5847 was additive when tested along with a variety of conventional TB agents, indicating that AZD5847 may function well in combination therapies. AZD5847 appears to function similarly to linezolid through impairment of the mycobacterial 50S ribosomal subunit. Future studies should be undertaken to further characterize the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of AZD5847 in both in vitro and animal models as well is in human clinical trials.

Effect of coadministration of moxifloxacin and rifampin on Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a murine aerosol infection model.

Coadministration of moxifloxacin and rifampin was evaluated in a murine model of Mycobacterium tuberculosis pulmonary infection to determine whether the finding of antagonism documented in a hollow-fiber infection model could be recapitulated in vivo. Colony counts were followed in a no-treatment control group, groups administered moxifloxacin or rifampin monotherapy, and a group administered a combination of the two agents. Following 18 days of once-daily oral administration to mice infected with M. tuberculosis, there was a reduction in the plasma exposure to rifampin that decreased further when rifampin was coadministered with moxifloxacin. Pharmacodynamic analysis demonstrated a mild antagonistic interaction between moxifloxacin and rifampin with respect to cell kill in the mouse model for tuberculosis (TB). No emergence of resistance was noted over 28 days of therapy, even with monotherapy. This was true even though one of the agents in the combination (moxifloxacin) induces error-prone replication. The previously noted antagonism with respect to cell kill shown in the hollow-fiber infection model was recapitulated in the murine TB lung model, although to a lesser extent.

Development of a microplate-based scintillation proximity assay for MraY using a modified substrate.

MraY is an established target for the discovery of antibacterial agents. The conventional assay for MraY uses radioactive substrate and analysis of products after paper chromatography or butanol extraction. Synthesis of radiolabeled substrate has been done in vitro using purified enzymes or by growing cells on radiolabeled precursors. The authors report a simple and rapid method to chemically radiolabel MraY substrate, UDP-MurNAc-pentapeptide. Specific activity obtained by this method was more than 100 times higher than the conventionally labeled substrate, and yields are high enough to support the requirements of high-throughput screening (HTS). The authors have developed a microplate-based homogeneous assay for MraY in which the product is captured on wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) scintillation proximity assay (SPA) beads. The assay was validated by showing inhibition by specific inhibitors of MraY but not by inhibitors of other enzymes of peptidoglycan synthesis. The assay uses wild-type membranes of Escherichia coli, giving it an advantage over recently described assays that need the protein to be overexpressed. In addition, it has an advantage over the high-throughput MraY-MurG coupled assay reported in the literature because it is MraY specific, and therefore hits obtained in this assay do not need further deconvolution. It has potential for use in HTS approaches to find novel inhibitors of MraY.

Production of recombinant human bile salt stimulated lipase and its variant in Pichia pastoris.

hBSSL and its truncated variant hBSSL-C cDNA clones were expressed in Pichia pastoris using two different signal peptides, native signal peptide and invertase signal peptide, respectively, to facilitate secretion of the recombinant proteins into the culture medium. Both recombinant proteins were secreted into the culture medium to a level of 45-50 mg/liter in shake flask cultures. Native signal peptide of hBSSL was recognized in P. pastoris and was cleaved at the same site as in humans. The level of expression of the hBSSL gene was found to be dependent on the number of its copies integrated into the host chromosome. The multicopy transformant clone was found to be very stable. When grown and induced in a fermentor, the level of accumulation of the recombinant hBSSL in the culture medium improved from 50 mg/liter in shake flask cultures to 300 mg/liter. The recombinant hBSSL purified from the culture supernatant was found to be similar to the native hBSSL in its biochemical properties except for the lectin-binding profile.