The roles of 6K protein on Getah virus replication and pathogenicity.

Alphavirus is a type of arbovirus that can infect both humans and animals. The amino acid sequence of the 6K protein, being one of the structural proteins of the alphavirus, is not conserved. Deletion of this protein will result in varying effects on different alphaviruses. Our study focuses on the function of the Getah virus (GETV) 6K protein in infected cells and mice. We successfully constructed infectious clone plasmids and created resulting viruses (rGETV and rGETV-Δ6K). Our comprehensive microscopic analysis revealed that the 6 K protein mainly stays in the endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, rGETV-Δ6K has lower thermal stability and sensitivity to temperature than GETV. Although the deletion of the 6K protein does not reduce virion production in ST cells, it affects the release of virions from host cells by inhibiting the process of E2 protein transportation to the plasma membrane. Subsequent in vivo testing demonstrated that neonatal mice infected with rGETV-Δ6K had a lower virus content, less significant pathological changes in tissue slices, and milder disease than those infected with the wild-type virus. Our results indicate that the 6K protein effectively reduces the viral titer by influencing the release of viral particles. Furthermore, the 6K protein play a role in the clinical manifestation of GETV disease.

Circulating microRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers for ischemic stroke: evidence from comprehensive analysis and real-world validation.

Ischemic stroke (IS) is the majority of strokes which remain the second leading cause of deaths in the last two decades. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been suggested as potential diagnostic and therapeutic tools for IS by previous studies analyzing their differential expression. However, inconclusive and controversial conclusions of these results have to be addressed. In this study, comprehensive analysis and real-world validation were performed to assess the associations between circulating miRNAs and IS. 29 studies with 112 miRNAs were extracted after manual selection and filtering, 12 differentially expressed miRNAs were obtained from our results of meta-analysis. These miRNAs were evaluated in 20 IS patients, compared to 20 healthy subjects. 4 miRNAs (hsa-let-7e-5p, hsa-miR-124-3p, hsa-miR-17-5p, hsa-miR-185-5p) exhibited the significant expression level in IS patient plasma samples. Pathway and biological process enrichment analysis for the target genes of the 4 validated miRNAs identified cellular senescence and neuroinflammation as key post-IS response pathways. The results of our analyses closely correlated with the pathogenesis and implicated pathways observed in IS subjects suggested by the literature, which may provide aid in the development of circulating diagnostic or therapeutic targets for IS patients.

Identification of lncRNAs associated with uterine corpus endometrial cancer prognosis based on the competing endogenous RNA network.

Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma (UCEC) is one of the major malignant tumors of the female reproductive system. However, there are limitations in the currently available diagnostic approaches for UCEC. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in regulating biological processes as competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) in tumors. To study the potential of lncRNAs as non-invasive diagnostic tumor markers, RNA-sequencing dataset of UCEC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas was used to identify differentially expressed genes. A lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network was constructed by differentially expressed lncRNAs, miRNAs and miRNAs. Pathway enrichment and functional analysis for the mRNAs in the constructed ceRNA network provide the direction of future research for UCEC by demonstrating the most affected processes and pathways. Seven potential lncRNA biomarkers (C20orf56, LOC100144604, LOC100190940, LOC151534, LOC727677, FLJ35390, LOC158572) were validated in UCEC patients by quantitative real-time PCR. Notably, LOC100190940 and LOC158572 were identified as novel RNA molecules with unknown functions. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated that the combined 7 lncRNAs had a high diagnostic value for UCEC patients with area under curve (AUC) of 0.941 (95% CI: 0.875-0.947). Our study highlights the potential of the validated 7 lncRNAs panel as diagnostic biomarkers in UCEC, providing new insights into the UCEC pathogenesis.

Discovery of LY3325656: A GPR142 agonist suitable for clinical testing in human.

The discovery and optimization of a novel series of GPR142 agonists are described. These led to the identification of compound 21 (LY3325656), which demonstrated anti-diabetic benefits in pre-clinical studies and ADME/PK properties suitable for human dosing. Compound 21 is the first GPR142 agonist molecule advancing to phase 1 clinic trials for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

Transporter-mediated tissue targeting of therapeutic molecules in drug discovery.

Tissue concentrations of endogenous chemicals and nutrients are in large part regulated by membrane transporters through their substrate specificity and differential tissue distributions. These transporters also play a key role in the disposition of therapeutic agents thus affecting their efficacy and safety profile. A transporter-mediated tissue targeting strategy, where the structural features recognized by the transporters are incorporated into the therapeutic molecule, is emerging as an effective approach in drug discovery. In this digest, we review this phenomenon and highlight recent cases in the design of liver and kidney targeted drug molecules.

Neuroprotective Effects of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Extracellular Vesicles in Ischemic Stroke Models.

BACKGROUND: Stroke represents the second leading cause of death and the primary cause of long-term disability in humans. The transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) reportedly improves functional outcomes in animal models of cerebral ischemia. Here, we evaluate the neuroprotective potential of extracellular vesicles secreted from human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hiPS-MSC-EV) using preclinical cell-based and animal-based models of ischemic strokes. METHODS: hiPS-MSC-EV were isolated using an ultrafiltration method. HT22 cells were subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) injury for 2 h, followed by treatment with hiPS-MSC-EV (100 µg/mL). Male C57BL/6 mice were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) followed by an intravenous injection of hiPS-MSC-EV (100 µg) at three distinct time points. RESULTS: Our experimental approach revealed hiPS-MSC-EV promoted HT22 cell proliferation, reduced apoptosis, and altered cellular morphology following OGD/R. In addition, hiPS-MSC-EV reduced the volume of infarcts, improved spontaneous movement abilities, and enhanced angiogenesis by expressing the VEGF and CXCR4 proteins in the infarcted hemisphere of the MCAO-treated mouse model. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide evidence of the potential neuroprotective effects of hiPS-MSC-derived extracellular vesicles (hiPS-MSC-EVs) in both in vitro and in vivo mouse models of ischemic stroke. These results suggest that hiPS-MSC-EVs may play a role in neurorestoration and offer insights into potential cell-free strategies for addressing cerebral ischemia.

Preparation of Adsorbent Based on Polyacrylate Latex Solid Waste and Its Application in the Treatment of Dye Wastewater.

It is a great challenge to sustainably produce and apply water-based coatings and inks in terms of realizing the green resource utilization of polyacrylate latex solid waste (PLSW) and avoid its secondary pollution. In this paper, a kind of high value-added amphoteric ion-exchange resin (AIER) was prepared by using diethylenetriamine to amidate PLSW under the optimized conditions from a Box-Behnken design. Its adsorption and regeneration properties and the universality of the method were investigated. The results suggested that AIER possessed a high removal efficiency to anionic dyes, and the batch dye adsorption processes were endothermic and spontaneous, which is consistent with a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The penetration adsorption capacities of AIER were recorded to be 987.08 mg/g for RR239 and 1037.75 mg/g for RB5 at the optimized operating conditions of column height = 6.4 cm, flow rate = 1 mL/min, and dye solution of 500 mg/L. They were more than 200 times larger than that of commercial activated carbon when the mixture composed of AIER particle and diatomite particle (filter aid agent) was used as a fixed-bed adsorbent. Zeta potential analysis results indicated that the good adsorption and regeneration performances of AIER were mainly attributed to the presence of amino and carboxyl groups in the molecular structure of AIER. Most importantly, this method possessed excellent practicability and universality for different types of PLSW from factory wastewater. The results provide a feasible method and theoretical basis for the green resource utilization of PLSW, and the goal of "waste control by waste" was fundamentally achieved.

Introduction of the (-)-berkelic acid side chain and assignment of the C-22 stereochemistry.

A Kiyooka aldol condensation of an aldehyde with a trimethylsilyl ketene acetal and the oxazaborolidinone prepared from N-Ts-(S)-valine gives two of the four possible aldol adducts, which were oxidized and deprotected to complete the synthesis of (-)-berkelic acid and (-)-22-epi-berkelic acid. This synthesis establishes the absolute stereochemistry and assigns the stereochemistry at C-22. A biosynthetic pathway is proposed that is consistent with the known absolute stereochemistry at the quaternary carbon of spiciferone A, spicifernin, and berkelic acid and provides a simple explanation for the differing stereochemistry at C-18 and C-19 of spicifernin and berkelic acid.

Synthesis of (-)-berkelic acid.

An extremophilic challenge: Stereospecific condensation of a fully functionalized ketal aldehyde and a 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid is the key step in the synthesis of (-)-berkelic acid confirming Fürstner's reassignment of the stereochemistry at C18 and C19, establishing the absolute stereochemistry, and tentatively assigning the stereochemistry at C22.

Chemical genetic-based phenotypic screen reveals novel regulators of gluconeogenesis in human primary hepatocytes.

Insulin resistance is a pathophysiological hallmark of type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Under the condition of fat accumulation in the liver, suppression of hepatic glucose production by insulin is diminished. In order to gain deeper understanding of dysregulation of glucose production in metabolic diseases, in the present study, we performed an unbiased phenotypic screening in primary human hepatocytes to discover novel mechanisms that regulate gluconeogenesis in the presence of insulin. To optimize phenotypic screening process, we used a chemical genetic screening approach by building a small-molecule library with prior knowledge of activity-based protein profiling. The "positive hits" result from the screen will be small molecules with known protein targets. This makes downstream deconvolution process (i.e., determining the relevant biological targets) less time-consuming. To unbiasedly decipher the molecular targets, we developed a novel statistical method and discovered a set of genes, including DDR3 and CACNA1E that suppressed gluconeogenesis in human hepatocytes. Further investigation, including transcriptional profiling and gene network analysis, was performed to understand the molecular functions of DRD3 and CACNA1E in human hepatocytes.

Biomimetic synthesis of the tetracyclic core of berkelic acid.

Acid-catalyzed condensation of 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid 3 with ketal aldehyde 14 in methanol at 25 degrees C, followed by CH2N2 esterification, gave a 4:1:4:1 mixture of diastereomers 15b-18b in 60% yield. Equilibration of this mixture with TFA in CDCl3 provided tetracycle 15b (83% yield) with the complete skeleton of berkelic acid. A similar condensation at 0 degrees C afforded 15b-18b and a reduction product 19b, which was probably formed by a 1,5-hydride shift.

Synthesis of the alkenyl-substituted tetracyclic core of the bisabosquals.

HCl-catalyzed deprotection and cyclization of benzylic alcohol 15 cleanly provided tricycle 16 by a cis-selective intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction. Acetylation of the phenol, bis epoxidation, and base-catalyzed hydrolysis and cyclization afforded tetracycle 19 with the bisabosqual skeleton, but the wrong stereochemistry at the tertiary alcohol. Selective dehydration of the tertiary alcohol to form the exocyclic alkene, ozonolysis, reductive deoxygenation of the side chain epoxide, and addition of MeMgBr to the ketone from the less hindered face gave tertiary alcohol 24 with the tetracyclic core of bisabosqual A (1).

Synthesis of (+)-sch 642305 by a biomimetic transannular Michael reaction.

[reaction: see text] The synthesis of (+)-Sch 642305 (1) has been completed in 17 steps in 1.6% overall yield. Transannular Michael reaction of 2b with NaH in THF provided cyclohexenone 23 stereospecifically. Heating 23 in TFA/CDCl(3) provided a 3:1 equilibrium mixture of 23 and 25, which was hydrolyzed to give (+)-6-epi-Sch 642305 (24) and (+)-Sch 642305 (1), respectively.

Discovery and Optimization of Potent, Selective, and in Vivo Efficacious 2-Aryl Benzimidazole BCATm Inhibitors.

To identify BCATm inhibitors suitable for in vivo study, Encoded Library Technology (ELT) was used to affinity screen a 117 million member benzimidazole based DNA encoded library, which identified an inhibitor series with both biochemical and cellular activities. Subsequent SAR studies led to the discovery of a highly potent and selective compound, 1-(3-(5-bromothiophene-2-carboxamido)cyclohexyl)-N-methyl-2-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-5-carboxamide (8b) with much improved PK properties. X-ray structure revealed that 8b binds to the active site of BACTm in a unique mode via multiple H-bond and van der Waals interactions. After oral administration, 8b raised mouse blood levels of all three branched chain amino acids as a consequence of BCATm inhibition.

Discovery, SAR, and X-ray Binding Mode Study of BCATm Inhibitors from a Novel DNA-Encoded Library.

As a potential target for obesity, human BCATm was screened against more than 14 billion DNA encoded compounds of distinct scaffolds followed by off-DNA synthesis and activity confirmation. As a consequence, several series of BCATm inhibitors were discovered. One representative compound (R)-3-((1-(5-bromothiophene-2-carbonyl)pyrrolidin-3-yl)oxy)-N-methyl-2'-(methylsulfonamido)-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-carboxamide (15e) from a novel compound library synthesized via on-DNA Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling showed BCATm inhibitory activity with IC50 = 2.0 µM. A protein crystal structure of 15e revealed that it binds to BCATm within the catalytic site adjacent to the PLP cofactor. The identification of this novel inhibitor series plus the establishment of a BCATm protein structure provided a good starting point for future structure-based discovery of BCATm inhibitors.

Fluorocyclines. 1. 7-fluoro-9-pyrrolidinoacetamido-6-demethyl-6-deoxytetracycline: a potent, broad spectrum antibacterial agent.

This and the accompanying report (DOI: 10.1021/jm201467r ) describe the design, synthesis, and evaluation of a new generation of tetracycline antibacterial agents, 7-fluoro-9-substituted-6-demethyl-6-deoxytetracyclines ("fluorocyclines"), accessible through a recently developed total synthesis approach. These fluorocyclines possess potent antibacterial activities against multidrug resistant (MDR) Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. One of the fluorocyclines, 7-fluoro-9-pyrrolidinoacetamido-6-demethyl-6-deoxytetracycline (17j, also known as TP-434, 50th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Conference , Boston, MA , September 12-15, 2010 , poster F1 - 2157 ), is currently undergoing phase 2 clinical trials in patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI).

Synthesis of lanopylin B1.

Phase-transfer alkylation of diethyl 2-oxopropylphosphonate (9) with 2-iodoalkyl azide afforded 40% of azido phosphonate 6, which underwent a phase-transfer Horner-Emmons Wittig reaction with heptadecanal to provide 80% of azido enone 5. An intramolecular aza-Wittig reaction with polymer-bound Ph(3)P in toluene at reflux completed the first synthesis of lanopylin B(1) in 76% yield.