Auranofin efficacy against MDR Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus infections.

BACKGROUND: Auranofin is an FDA-approved, gold-containing compound in clinical use for the oral treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and has been recently granted by the regulatory authorities due to its antiprotozoal properties. METHODS: A reprofiling strategy was performed with a Streptococcus pneumoniae phenotypic screen and a proprietary library of compounds, consisting of both FDA-approved and unapproved bioactive compounds. Two different multiresistant S. pneumoniae strains were employed in a sepsis mouse model of infection. In addition, an MRSA strain was tested using both the thigh model and a mesh-associated biofilm infection in mice. RESULTS: The repurposing approach showed the high potency of auranofin against multiresistant clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in vitro and in vivo. Efficacy in the S. pneumoniae sepsis model was obtained using auranofin by the oral route in the dose ranges used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Thioglucose replacement by alkyl chains showed that this moiety was not essential for the antibacterial activity and led to the discovery of a new gold derivative (MH05) with remarkable activity in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Auranofin and the new gold derivative MH05 showed encouraging in vivo activity against multiresistant clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae and S. aureus. The clinical management of auranofin, alone or in combination with other antibiotics, deserves further exploration before use in patients presenting therapeutic failure caused by infections with multiresistant Gram-positive pathogens. Decades of clinical use mean that this compound is safe to use and may accelerate its evaluation in humans.

Long thoracic nerve injury in breast cancer patients treated with axillary lymph node dissection.

PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to electromyographically (EMG) describe and analyze factors associated with long thoracic nerve injuries in breast cancer patients after axillary lymph node dissection. METHODS: This was a prospective longitudinal observational study. Two hundred sixty-four women with primary invasive breast cancer were included between 2008 and 2011. All of them were treated by axillary lymph node dissection. Patients were evaluated at 1, 6, and 12 months following surgery. The presence of winged scapula was systematically tested at each follow-up and an EMG performed whenever it was observed. Affected and unaffected groups were compared for demographic, tumour, and treatment variables. Student t test, Mann-Whitney U test, chi-squared or Fisher test were computed as appropriate. RESULTS: Among the 36 (13.6%) winged scapula observed, the EMG confirmed long thoracic nerve injury in 30 (11.3%) of them, 27 were partial axonotmesis and three were severe axonotmesis. At 12 months, the EMG showed that injury persisted in six (2.27%) patients. Patients with long thoracic nerve injury had a lower body mass index than unaffected patients (26.2 vs. 28.2, p = 0.045). Age, tumour stage, type of breast surgery, nodes excised, surgical complications, previous chemotherapy and previous hormonotherapy were not factors associated with winged scapula. CONCLUSIONS: A lower body mass index was the only factor associated to long thoracic nerve injury. In most of the patients, the EMG showed partial axonotmesis. At 12 months, 2.27% of studied patients remained with an unsolved long thoracic nerve injury.

[Protocol for neurophysiological studies of the pelvic floor to appraise anorectal dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis]. / Protocolo de estudios neurofisiológicos del suelo pélvico para la valoración de la disfunción anorrectal en pacientes con esclerosis múltiple.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently develop anorectal dysfunction. The neuromuscular structures of the pelvic floor and the mechanisms of voluntary control over defecation can be compromised by the patchy lesions of MS or secondary to the patient's disability. The involvement of multiple factors limits understanding of the pathophysiology of anorectal dysfunction in MS. Specific neurophysiological tests assess the functionality of the elements of the central and peripheral nervous system involved in anorectal dysfunction. AIM: To propose a diagnostic protocol of standardised neurophysiological studies of the pelvic floor in order to characterise the pathophysiology of anorectal dysfunction in patients with MS. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The following studies were conducted on 16 patients with defined MS and who met criteria for constipation or faecal incontinence: external anal sphincter electromyography (EAS-EMG), somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) of the internal pudendal nerve, recording of ano-sacral reflexes and pudendal nerve neurography. RESULTS: The clinical and neurophysiological characteristics were heterogeneous. Nine patients presented constipation; two had isolated faecal incontinence; and five, a combination of both. Abolition or delay in the latency of the SSEP was the most frequent finding (n = 12), followed by the detection of paradoxical contraction (n = 11) and deficient recruitment (n = 8) in the EAS-EMG. CONCLUSIONS: The correct interpretation of each available neurophysiological test and the correlation of the findings as a whole enable us to understand the pathophysiology of anorectal dysfunction. The implementation of a protocol for neuro-physiological studies of the pelvic floor makes it possible to adjust the diagnosis by identifying the central or peripheral nervous lesion determining anorectal dysfunction in patients with MS.

TITLE: Protocolo de estudios neurofisiologicos del suelo pelvico para la valoracion de la disfuncion anorrectal en pacientes con esclerosis multiple.Introduccion. Los pacientes con esclerosis multiple (EM) frecuentemente desarrollan disfuncion anorrectal. Las estructuras neuromusculares del suelo pelvico y los mecanismos de control voluntario de la defecacion pueden afectarse por las lesiones parcheadas de la EM o secundarias a la discapacidad del paciente. La implicacion multifactorial limita la comprension de la fisiopatologia de la disfuncion anorrectal en la EM. Tests neurofisiologicos especificos valoran la funcionalidad de los elementos del sistema nervioso central y periferico implicados en las disfunciones anorrectales. Objetivo. Proponer un protocolo diagnostico de estudios neurofisiologicos estandarizados del suelo pelvico para caracterizar la fisiopatologia de la disfuncion anorrectal en los pacientes con EM. Pacientes y metodos. Se realizaron estudios de electromiografia de esfinter anal externo, potenciales evocados somatosensoriales desde el nervio pudendo interno, registro de reflejos sacros anales y neurografia del nervio pudendo a 16 pacientes con EM definida y criterios de estreñimiento o incontinencia fecal. Resultados. Las caracteristicas clinicas y neurofisiologicas fueron heterogeneas. Nueve pacientes presentaron estreñimiento; dos, incontinencia fecal aislada; y cinco, combinacion de ambos. La abolicion o el retraso de la latencia de los potenciales evocados somatosensoriales fue el hallazgo mas frecuente (n = 12), seguido de la deteccion de contraccion paradojica (n = 11) y de reclutamiento deficitario (n = 8) en la electromiografia de esfinter anal externo. Conclusiones. La correcta interpretacion de cada test neurofisiologico disponible y la correlacion de los hallazgos en conjunto permiten comprender la fisiopatologia de la disfuncion anorrectal. La protocolizacion de estudios neurofisiologicos del suelo pelvico permite ajustar el diagnostico al identificar la lesion nerviosa, central o periferica, determinante de disfuncion anorrectal en los pacientes con EM.

In vitro antitumor structure-activity relationships of threo/trans/threo/trans/erythro bis-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenins: correlations with their inhibition of mitochondrial complex I.

Annonaceous acetogenins are known to be cytotoxic against tumor cell lines by virtue of their inhibition of mitochondrial complex I. We decided to conclude part of our recent revisions of the different structure-activity relationships (SARs) found within these compounds with a detailed description of the cytotoxic activity, and correlations with the inhibition of the target enzyme, of the broadest subclass of this family of natural products, the bis-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenins (bis-THF ACGs) of threo/trans/threo/trans/erythro relative configuration. Five naturally occurring ACGs and more than 10 semisynthetic analogs were tested against the MCF-7 (breast), A-549 (lung), HepG2 (liver), HT-29 (colon), MES-SA (ovary), and a multidrug-resistant (MDR-MES-SA/Dx5) cell lines using the MTr cytotoxicity assay to determine if the mitochondrial complex I inhibition correlated with the in vitro antitumor potency of the most common ACGs. Results indicated that a previously observed trend for other subclasses of ACGs between the ED50 of the cytotoxicity assay and the polarity of compounds was not present in this set and that there were several specific interactions that enhanced the antitumor activity. For example, some of the guanacone derivatives prepared were two orders of magnitude more potent than the parent compound for specific cell lines.

In vitro antitumor SAR of threo/cis/threo/cis/erythro bis-THF acetogenins: correlations with their inhibition of mitochondrial Complex I.

Annonaceous acetogenins (ACG) are a large family of natural products that have been described as the most potent in vitro inhibitors of the mitochondrial respiratory chain Complex I. During the last two decades a large number of related structures have been discovered, increasing the number of members of this family. The large diversity of structural moieties and the general trends observed for inhibiting both growth of tumor cell lines and mitochondrial respiratory chain activity have resulted in the classification of these compounds into several structural groups according to their potency. Among them, the adjacent bis-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenins (bis-THF ACG) with a threo/cis/threo/cis/erythro relative configuration, have been described as the most potent subgroup, the prototypical member of which, rolliniastatin-1, was originally isolated from Rollinia membaranacea seeds. In this report we describe the different structure-activity relationships (SAR) observed for some natural ACG and semisynthetic derivatives as growth inhibitors of human tumor breast, lung, liver, and colon cell lines. All the compounds assayed showed potencies in the micromolar range. Trends observed in the cytotoxicity assay have been compared with previous data reported for these compounds as inhibitors of mitochondrial respiratory chain.

In vitro antitumor structure-activity relationships of threo/trans/threo mono-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenins: correlations with their inhibition of mitochondrial complex I.

In this study we evaluated a mono-tetrahydrofuranic subgroup of natural acetogenins that had shown in previous enzyme inhibition studies different potency trends compared with the bis-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenin subgroup. The compounds were tested against colon, breast, lung, liver, and ovarian tumor cell lines. A drug-resistant ovarian cell line was also included in the panel. In general the compounds were more potent than doxorubicin. The goal was to determine how well the mitochondrial complex I inhibition correlates with the in vitro antitumor potency of these natural mono-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenins and of some derivatives. The results indicate that both the reduction of the terminal gamma-lactone after its translactonization and the introduction of an hydroxylimine group in the alkyl chain, near the mono-tetrahydrofuranic moiety, increased the antitumor activity, even against the doxorubicin-resistant cell line.

FM19G11: A new modulator of HIF that links mTOR activation with the DNA damage checkpoint pathways.

The network consisting of mTOR and p53 pathways is crucial to understanding a wide variety of physiological and pathological events, including cancer and aging. In addition, the HIF1alpha protein, a downstream target of mTOR, is a hallmark of different tumor types and was the desired strategy of many drug discovery efforts. Here we present the novel chemical entity FM19G11, a new modulator of HIF1alpha expression, which was used as a molecular tool to dissect and further characterize the cross-talk between these signaling cascades in human colon carcinoma cell lines. To our knowledge, FM19G11 is the first drug that triggers a DNA damage response (DDR) associated with G(1)/S-phase arrest in a p53-dependent manner, due to rapid hyper-activation of the growth signaling pathway through mTOR. Assessment of colonies demonstrated that FM19G11 decreases the clonogenicity of HT29, HCT116/p53(+/+) and HCT116/p53(-/-) cells. Moreover, FM19G11 causes significant lower colony growth in soft agar of p53-proficient human colon cancer cells. Consequently, p53 sensitizes human colon cancer cells to FM19G11 by significant reduction of their viability, lessening their colony formation capability and shrinking their anchorage-independent growth. Cell signaling studies served to assign a new mode of action to FM19G11, whose tumor-suppressant activity compromises the survival of functional p53 malignant cells.

New antitumoral acetogenin 'Guanacone type' derivatives: isolation and bioactivity. Molecular dynamics simulation of diacetyl-guanacone.

We describe herein the isolation and semisynthesis of four acetogenin derivatives (1-4) as well as their ability to inhibit the mitochondrial respiratory chain and several tumor cell lines. In addition, four nanoseconds (ns) of MD simulation of compound 4, in a fully hydrated POPC bilayer, is reported.

Guanaconetins, new antitumoral acetogenins, mitochondrial complex I and tumor cell growth inhibitors.

The antitumoral activity of a series of acetylated bis-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenins with a threo/trans/threo/trans/erythro relative configuration was characterized by four new natural and two semisynthetic, 15,24,30-trioxygenated acetogenins that were found to inhibit mitochondrial complex I enzyme as well as growth of several tumor cell lines. Placement of acetyl groups along the alkyl chain modulated the potency of the bis-tetrahydrofuranic acetogenins and could be important for future utilization of these compounds as chemotherapeutic agents.

N',2-diphenylquinoline-4-carbohydrazide based NK3 receptor antagonists II.

Introduction of selected amine containing side chains into the 3-position of N',2-diphenylquinoline-4-carbohydrazide based NK3 antagonists abolishes unwanted hPXR activation. Introduction of a fluorine at the 8-position is necessary to minimize unwanted hI(Kr) affinity and a piperazine N-tert-butyl group is necessary for metabolic stability. The lead compound (8m) occupies receptors within the CNS following oral dosing (Occ(90) 7 mg/kg po; plasma Occ(90) 0.4 microM) and has good selectivity and excellent PK properties.

N',2-diphenylquinoline-4-carbohydrazide based NK3 receptor antagonists.

A new class of potent NK3R antagonists based on the N',2-diphenylquinoline-4-carbohydrazide core is described. In an ex vivo assay in gerbil, the lead compound 2g occupies receptors within the CNS following oral dosing (Occ(90) 30 mg/kg po; plasma Occ(90) 0.95 microM) and has good selectivity and promising PK properties.

Guggulsterone is a farnesoid X receptor antagonist in coactivator association assays but acts to enhance transcription of bile salt export pump.

Guggulipid is an extract of the guggul tree Commiphora mukul and has been widely used to treat hyperlipidemia in humans. The plant sterol guggulsterone (GS) is the active agent in this extract. Recent studies have shown that GS can act as an antagonist ligand for farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and decrease expression of bile acid-activated genes. Here we show that GS, although an FXR antagonist in coactivator association assays, enhances FXR agonist-induced transcription of bile salt export pump (BSEP), a major hepatic bile acid transporter. In HepG2 cells, in the presence of an FXR agonist such as chenodeoxycholate or GW4064, GS enhanced endogenous BSEP expression with a maximum induction of 400-500% that induced by an FXR agonist alone. This enhancement was also readily observed in FXR-dependent BSEP promoter activation using a luciferase reporter construct. In addition, GS alone slightly increased BSEP promoter activation in the absence of an FXR agonist. Consistent with the results in HepG2, guggulipid treatment in Fisher rats increased BSEP mRNA. Interestingly, in these animals expression of the orphan nuclear receptor SHP (small heterodimer partner), a known FXR target, was also significantly increased, whereas expression of other FXR targets including cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase (Cyp 7a1), sterol 12alpha-hydroxylase (Cyp 8b1), and the intestinal bile acid-binding protein (I-BABP), remained unchanged. Thus, we propose that GS is a selective bile acid receptor modulator that regulates expression of a subset of FXR targets. Guggulipid treatment in rats lowered serum triglyceride and raised serum high density lipoprotein levels. Taken together, these data suggest that guggulsterone defines a novel class of FXR ligands characterized by antagonist activities in coactivator association assays but with the ability to enhance the action of agonists on BSEP expression in vivo.

Farnesoid X receptor activates transcription of the phospholipid pump MDR3.

The human multidrug resistance gene MDR3 encodes a P-glycoprotein that belongs to the ATP-binding cassette transporter family (ABCB4). MDR3 is a critical trans-locator for phospholipids across canalicular membranes of hepatocytes, evidenced by the fact that human MDR3 deficiencies result in progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type III. It has been reported previously that MDR3 expression is modulated by hormones, cellular stress, and xenobiotics. Here we show that the MDR3 gene is trans-activated by the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) via a direct binding of FXR/retinoid X receptor alpha heterodimers to a highly conserved inverted repeat element (a FXR response element) at the distal promoter (-1970 to -1958). In FXR trans-activation assays, both the endogenous FXR agonist chenodeoxycholate and the synthetic agonist GW4064 activated the MDR3 promoter. Deletion or mutation of this inverted repeat element abolished FXR-mediated MDR3 promoter activation. Consistent with these data, MDR3 mRNA was significantly induced by both chenodeoxycholate and GW4064 in primary human hepatocytes in time- and dose-dependent fashions. In conclusion, we demonstrate that MDR3 expression is directly up-regulated by FXR. These results, together with the previous report that the bile salt export pump is a direct FXR target, suggest that FXR coordinately controls secretion of bile salts and phospholipids. Results of this study further support the notion that FXR is a master regulator of lipid metabolism.

Novel illudins from Coprinopsis episcopalis (syn. Coprinus episcopalis), and the distribution of illudin-like compounds among filamentous fungi.

The illudins are a family of fungal sesquiterpenes that have been studied as anti-tumor agents, and they also have antibacterial activity. Over a four-year period, 25 304 fungal isolates (approximately 97% ascomycetes and 3% basidiomycetes), were screened for antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Illudin-like compounds with antibacterial and cytotoxic activity against tumor cell lines were observed in 10 basidiomycete strains. The isolates were recovered from different types of substrata using indirect methods and only formed sterile mycelia in pure culture. The isolates were genetically related but not identical, based on PCR-based fingerprinting techniques. DNA sequencing of the ITS1-5.8 S-ITS2 region of the strains revealed that nine had identical sequences, indicating that they were conspecific. The sequence of the remaining isolate was 96.34% similar, suggesting that it was a closely related species. The D1-D2 region of the 25 S rRNA gene of the two strain types was also sequenced. Both sequences were 99.39% similar, and Coprinopsis gonophylla (syn. Coprinus gonophyllus) was the closest match for both. Strains were grown in pure culture on a rice-based medium that allowed the development of basidiomata from one culture of the main strain type, which was identified as C. episcopalis, a close relative of C. gonophyllus. Both species (or strain types) produced different types of illudin-like compounds. Three novel illudins (I, I2 and J2) were found to be produced by the cultures identified as C. episcopalis, while only illudinic acid was produced by the other Coprinopsis sp. The taxonomical relationships of the Coprinops is species identified in this study with other illudin producers previously reported in the literature are discussed.