Sonrotoclax overcomes BCL2 G101V mutation-induced venetoclax resistance in preclinical models of hematologic malignancy.

ABSTRACT: Venetoclax, the first-generation inhibitor of the apoptosis regulator B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2), disrupts the interaction between BCL2 and proapoptotic proteins, promoting the apoptosis in malignant cells. Venetoclax is the mainstay of therapy for relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia and is under investigation in multiple clinical trials for the treatment of various cancers. Although venetoclax treatment can result in high rates of durable remission, relapse has been widely observed, indicating the emergence of drug resistance. The G101V mutation in BCL2 is frequently observed in patients who relapsed treated with venetoclax and sufficient to confer resistance to venetoclax by interfering with compound binding. Therefore, the development of next-generation BCL2 inhibitors to overcome drug resistance is urgently needed. In this study, we discovered that sonrotoclax, a potent and selective BCL2 inhibitor, demonstrates stronger cytotoxic activity in various hematologic cancer cells and more profound tumor growth inhibition in multiple hematologic tumor models than venetoclax. Notably, sonrotoclax effectively inhibits venetoclax-resistant BCL2 variants, such as G101V. The crystal structures of wild-type BCL2/BCL2 G101V in complex with sonrotoclax revealed that sonrotoclax adopts a novel binding mode within the P2 pocket of BCL2 and could explain why sonrotoclax maintains stronger potency than venetoclax against the G101V mutant. In summary, sonrotoclax emerges as a potential second-generation BCL2 inhibitor for the treatment of hematologic malignancies with the potential to overcome BCL2 mutation-induced venetoclax resistance. Sonrotoclax is currently under investigation in multiple clinical trials.

Particulate matter pollution in Kunshan High-Tech zone: Source apportionment with trace elements, plume evolution and its monitoring.

Particulate matter (PM) in the Kunshan High-Tech zone is studied during a three-month campaign. PM and trace elements are measured by the online pollution monitoring, forecast-warning and source term retrieval system AS3. Hourly measured concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and 16 trace elements in the PM2.5 section (Ca, Pb, Cu, Cl, V, Cr, Fe, Ti, Mn, Ni, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Sr, Ba) are focused. Source apportionment of trace elements by Positive Matrix Factorization modeling indicates that there are five major sources, including dust, industrial processing, traffic, combustion, and sea salt with contribution rate of 23.68%, 21.66%, 14.30%, 22.03%, and 6.89%, respectively. Prediction of plume dispersion from concrete plant and traffic emissions shows that PM10 pollution of concrete plant is three orders of magnitude more than that of the traffic. The influence range can extend to more than 3km in 1hr. Because the footprint of the industrial plumes is constantly moving according to the local meteorological conditions, the fixed monitoring sites scattered in a few hundred meters haven't captured the heaviest pollution plume at the local scale of a few km2. As a more intensive monitoring network is not operationally possible, the use of online modeling gives accurate and quantitative information of plume location, which increases the spatial pollution monitoring capacity and improves the understanding of measurement data. These results indicate that the development of the AS3 system, which combines monitoring equipment and air pollution modeling systems, is beneficial to the real-time pollution monitoring in the industrial zone.

Crystal structure of human RANKL complexed with its decoy receptor osteoprotegerin.

Receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL), its signaling receptor RANK, and its decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG) constitute a molecular triad that is critical in regulating bone remodeling, and also plays multiple roles in the immune system. OPG binds RANKL directly to block its interaction with RANK. In this article, we report the 2.7-Å crystal structure of human RANKL trimer in complex with the N-terminal fragment of human OPG containing four cysteine-rich TNFR homologous domains (OPG-CRD). The structure shows that RANKL trimer uses three equivalent grooves between two neighboring monomers to interact with three OPG-CRD monomers symmetrically. A loop from the CRD3 domain of OPG-CRD inserts into the shallow groove of RANKL, providing the major binding determinant that is further confirmed by affinity measurement and osteoclast differentiation assay. These results, together with a previously reported mouse RANKL/RANK complex structure, reveal that OPG exerts its decoy receptor function by directly blocking the accessibilities of important interacting residues of RANKL for RANK recognition. Structural comparison with TRAIL/death receptor 5 complex also reveals structural basis for the cross-reactivity of OPG to TRAIL.

Discovery of benzimidazole derivatives as novel multi-target EGFR, VEGFR-2 and PDGFR kinase inhibitors.

Multi-target EGFR, VEGFR-2 and PDGFR inhibitors are highly useful anticancer agents with improved therapeutic efficacies. In this work, we used two virtual screening methods, support vector machines (SVM) and molecular docking, to identify a novel series of benzimidazole derivatives, 2-aryl benzimidazole compounds, as multi-target EGFR, VEGFR-2 and PDGFR inhibitors. 2-Aryl benzimidazole compounds were synthesized and their biological activities against a tumor cell line HepG-2 and specific kinases were evaluated. Among these compounds, compounds 5a and 5e exhibited high cytotoxicity against HepG-2 cells with IC50 values at ∼2 µM. Further kinase assay study showed that compound 5a have good EGFR inhibitory activity and moderate VEGFR-2 and PDGFR inhibitory activities, while 5e have moderate EGFR inhibitory activity and slightly weaker VEGFR-2 and PDGFR inhibitory activities. Molecular docking analysis suggested that compound 5a more tightly interacts with EGFR and PDGFR than compound 5e. Our study discovered a novel series of benzimidazole derivatives as multi-target EGFR, VEGFR-2 and PDGFR kinases inhibitors.

Exploration of acridine scaffold as a potentially interesting scaffold for discovering novel multi-target VEGFR-2 and Src kinase inhibitors.

VEGFR-2 and Src kinases both play important roles in cancers. In certain cancers, Src works synergistically with VEGFR-2 to promote its activation. Development of multi-target drugs against VEGFR-2 and Src is of therapeutic advantage against these cancers. By using molecular docking and SVM virtual screening methods and based on subsequent synthesis and bioassay studies, we identified 9-aminoacridine derivatives with an acridine scaffold as potentially interesting novel dual VEGFR-2 and Src inhibitors. The acridine scaffold has been historically used for deriving topoisomerase inhibitors, but has not been found in existing VEGFR-2 inhibitors and Src inhibitors. A series of 21 acridine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activities against K562, HepG-2, and MCF-7 cells. Some of these compounds showed better activities against K562 cells in vitro than imatinib. The structure-activity relationships (SAR) of these compounds were analyzed. One of the compounds (7r) showed low µM activity against K562 and HepG-2 cancer cell-lines, and inhibited VEGFR-2 and Src at inhibition rates of 44% and 8% at 50µM, respectively, without inhibition of topoisomerase. Moreover, 10µM compound 7r could reduce the levels of activated ERK1/2 in a time dependant manner, a downstream effector of both VEGFR-2 and Src. Our study suggested that acridine scaffold is a potentially interesting scaffold for developing novel multi-target kinase inhibitors such as VEGFR-2 and Src dual inhibitors.

Novel synthetic 2-amino-10-(3,5-dimethoxy)benzyl-9(10H)-acridinone derivatives as potent DNA-binding antiproliferative agents.

A series of novel 9(10H)-acridinone derivatives with terminal amino substituents at C2 position on the acridinone ring were synthesized and studied for their antiproliferative activity and underlying mechanisms. These compounds demonstrated promising cytotoxicity to leukemia cells CCRF-CEM, displaying IC(50) values in the low micromolar range. Structure-activity relationships (SAR) indicated that the compound 6d bearing a pyrrolidine substituent and 8a with a methyl ammonium side chain displayed higher cytotoxicity to CCRF-CEM cells and also solid tumor cells A549, HepG2, and MCF7. Furthermore, the compounds 6d and 8a had strong binding activity to calf thymus DNA (ct DNA), as detected by UV absorption and fluorescence quenching assays, but limited inhibitory activity to human topoisomerase 1 (topo 1). Taken together, this study discovered a series of new synthetic 9(10H)-acridinone derivatives with potent DNA binding and anticancer activity.

Pharmacokinetics and metabolite identification of a novel VEGFR-2 and Src dual inhibitor 6-chloro-2-methoxy-N-(2-methoxybenzyl) acridin-9-amine in rats by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

A novel VEGFR-2 and Src dual inhibitor, 6-Chloro-2-methoxy-N-(2-methoxybenzyl) acridin-9-amine (MBAA), is a 9-aminoacridine derivative, but its pharmacokinetics and metabolism in body remain unknown. Using liquid chromatography tandem electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with the multiple reaction monitoring modes, we developed and validated a simple, rapid, sensitive and accurate technology for analyses of MBAA in the rat plasma, urine and bile. The micro samples were quickly prepared by 96-well plate. Chromatographic separation was performed on a C(18) column with gradient elution. High-quality linearity calibration curves were achieved over a concentration range of 1.00-3000 ng mL(-1). Intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD) were less than 8.5%, and accuracy (RE%) ranged from -2.9% to 12%. Extraction recoveries of MBAA were consistent with an average of 82.2-111.4% at three QC concentrations. When administered intravenously at a single dose of 2.0 mg kg(-1) to male SD rats, MBAA was rapidly eliminated with a T(1/2) of 0.9 ± 0.1h and AUC(0-t) of 369 ± 44.7 ng mL(-1). We identified four direct phase I and phase II metabolites by mass difference of molecular ions between metabolites and the parent compound. Various fragmentation patterns of MBAA were used to identify and characterize its metabolites. This LC-MS/MS analysis provides a useful approach to the pharmacokinetic and metabolic study of MBAA.