Targeting ENT1 and adenosine tone for the treatment of Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by an abnormal CAG expansion in the exon 1 of huntingtin gene. The treatment of HD is an unmet medical need. Given the important role of adenosine in modulating brain activity, in this study, levels of adenosine and adenine nucleotides in the cerebral spinal fluid of patients with HD and in the brain of two mouse models of HD (R6/2 and Hdh150Q) were analysed. The expression and activity of ENT1 in the striatum of mice with HD were measured. Targeting adenosine tone for treating HD was examined in R6/2 mice by genetic removal of ENT1 and by giving an ENT1 inhibitor, respectively. The results showed that the adenosine homeostasis is dysregulated in the brain of patients and mice with HD. In patients, the ratio of adenosine/ATP in the cerebral spinal fluid was negatively correlated with the disease duration, and tended to have a positive correlation with independence scale and functional capacity. In comparison to controls, mRNA level of ENT1 was higher in the striatum of R6/2 and Hdh150Q mice. Intrastriatal administration of ENT1 inhibitors increased extracellular level of adenosine in the striatum of R6/2 mice to a much higher level than controls. Chronic inhibition of ENT1 or by genetic removal of ENT1 enhanced the survival of R6/2 mice. Collectively, adenosine homeostasis and ENT1 expression are altered in HD. The inhibition of ENT1 can enhance extracellular adenosine level and be a potential therapeutic approach for treating HD.

Development and validation of an UHPLC-MS/MS method for simultaneous quantification of ibrutinib and its dihydrodiol-metabolite in human cerebrospinal fluid.

Ibrutinib is an orally administered first-in-class irreversible Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) covalent inhibitor for the treatment of patients with B-cell malignancies. Several isolated clinical observations reported its efficacy in central nervous system dissemination. Herein, we described the development and validation of an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) procedure for the quantification of ibrutinib and its active metabolite PCI-45227 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This is the first complete validated method for quantification of ibrutinib and PCI-45227 in CSF. The compounds were eluted on a Waters BEH C18 column (50.0 × 2.1 mm; 1.7 µm) using a gradient elution with a mobile phase composed of ammonium formate buffer 5 mM pH 3.2 and acetonitrile +0.1% formic acid with a flow rate of 400 µL·min-1. Two deuterated internal standards were used to obtain the most accurate quantification. The CSF samples were prepared by a simple and rapid dilution. The method was validated by testing the selectivity, response function, intra-day and inter-day precisions, trueness, limits of detection (LOD) and lower limits of quantification (LLOQ). The validation results proved that the methods were suitable to quantify ibrutinib and PCI-45227 in real biological CSF samples from 0.50 (ibrutinib) or 1.00 (PCI-45227) to 30.00 ng·mL-1. Furthermore, the developed method was adapted to allow the quantification of both compounds in plasma and the results were compared to those reported in literature. The plasmatic samples were treated by protein precipitation and the method was validated to quantify ibrutinib and PCI-45227 in real biological plasmatic samples from 5.00 to 491 ng·mL-1. Lastly, for both matrices, accuracy profiles were plotted from the trueness and precision results using a 20% α-risk (ß = 80%) and the tolerance intervals were comprised within the acceptance limits fixed at ±25% for the LLOQ and ±15% for the other concentrations. Finally, these methods were successfully applied to quantify ibrutinib and PCI-45227 in real human CSF and plasma samples.

Low cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of the nucleotide HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor, tenofovir.

BACKGROUND: Tenofovir is a nucleotide HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor whose chemical properties suggest that it may not penetrate into the central nervous system in therapeutic concentrations. The study's objective was to determine tenofovir's penetration into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). METHODS: CNS HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Effects Research is a multicenter observational study to determine the effects of antiretroviral therapy on HIV-associated neurological disease. Single random plasma and CSF samples were drawn within an hour of each other from subjects taking tenofovir between October 2003 and March 2007. All samples were assayed by mass spectrometry with a detection limit of 0.9 ng/mL. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-three participants (age 44 ± 8 years; 83 ± 32 kg; 33 females; CSF protein 44 ± 16 mg/dL) had plasma and CSF samples drawn 12.2 ± 6.9 and 11 ± 7.8 hours post dose, respectively. Median plasma and CSF tenofovir concentrations were 96 ng/mL [interquartile range (IQR) 47-153 ng/mL] and 5.5 ng/mL (IQR 2.7-11.3 ng/mL), respectively. Thirty-four of 231 plasma (14.7%) and 9 of 77 CSF samples (11.7%) were below detection. CSF to plasma concentration ratio from paired samples was 0.057 (IQR 0.03-0.1; n = 38). Median CSF to wild-type 50% inhibitory concentration ratio was 0.48 (IQR 0.24-0.98). Seventy-seven percent of CSF concentrations were below the tenofovir wild-type 50% inhibitory concentration. More subjects had detectable CSF HIV with lower (≤ 7 ng/mL) versus higher (>7 ng/mL) CSF tenofovir concentrations (29% versus 9%; P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Tenofovir concentrations in the CSF are only 5% of plasma concentrations, suggesting limited transfer into the CSF, and possibly active transport out of the CSF. CSF tenofovir concentrations may not effectively inhibit viral replication in the CSF.

Purine metabolites and pyrimidine bases in cerebrospinal fluid of children with simple febrile seizures.

Adenosine monophosphate, inosine monophosphate, inosine, adenosine, guanosine, adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine, xanthine, uric acid and pyrimidine bases were determined in the CSF of 18 children after simple febrile seizures and in a control group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups for any of these metabolites. This suggests that simple febrile seizures neither significantly disturb the metabolism of nucleotides, nucleosides or bases, nor significantly deplete neuron adenosine triphosphate ATP levels.

Concentration of purine compounds in the cerebrospinal fluid of infants suffering from sepsis, convulsions and hydrocephalus.

Catabolites of purine nucleotides were measured in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of newborn infants with sepsis, seizures and hydrocephalus using isocratic reversed-phase HPLC. The inosine levels in the CSF of the infants with any of the illnesses were significantly higher when compared with the controls. There was a tendency for hypoxanthine levels to be higher in the group of children with hydrocephalus. No significant differences in the concentrations of xanthine, adenine and uric acid were found. The inosine concentration in the CSF is proposed to be a more sensitive indicator of brain injury than the levels of other CSF purines. The levels of all purine metabolites measured in the CSF showed large individual variations. The ratio between hypoxanthine (as an indicator of ATP breakdown) and uric acid (as a scavenger of oxygen free radicals) concentration is proposed as a new criterion to be used in the evaluation of brain injury.