Left ventricular global longitudinal strain is worse in BRCA mutation positive breast cancer patients prior to cancer treatment and premature menopause.

PURPOSE: Breast cancer patients with mutations in human tumor suppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than the general population, as they are frequently exposed to cardiotoxic chemotherapy, anti-estrogen therapy, radiation, and/or oophorectomy for cancer-related treatment and prophylaxis. Animal and cell culture models suggest that BRCA mutations may play an independent role in heart failure. We sought to evaluate cardiac structure and function in female BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers with breast cancer compared to BRCA wildtype women with breast cancer. METHODS: We performed a 1:2 age- and hypertension-matched retrospective cohort study comparing BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers (n = 38) versus BRCA wildtype controls (n = 76) with a new diagnosis of breast cancer. Echocardiographic data were obtained within 6 months of breast cancer diagnosis and prior to chemotherapy, anti-estrogen therapy, radiation, or oophorectomy. Left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS), a highly sensitive marker of LV function, was measured using QLab 15 (Philips Healthcare). RESULTS: In the total cohort of 114 patients with a new diagnosis of breast cancer, the median age was 45 ± 11 years and the prevalence of hypertension was 8%. There were no differences in traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors between cases and controls. BRCA carriers had lower LV-GLS (- 18.1% ± 4.7% vs. - 20.1% ± 3.8%, p = 0.02) and greater right atrial area (12.9 cm2 ± 2.7 cm2 vs. 11.8 cm2 ± 2.0 cm2, p = 0.04) compared to controls; however, both LV-GLS and right atrial area were within the normal range. Compared to controls, BRCA carriers had a trend toward worse LV posterior wall thickness (0.89 cm ± 0.15 cm vs. 0.83 cm ± 0.16 cm, p = 0.06) although not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: In women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and prior to treatment, LV-GLS was worse in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers compared to those with BRCA wildtype. These findings suggest that BRCA mutations may be associated with subtle changes in cardiac function. Whether differences in GLS translate to increased cardiovascular risk in women with BRCA mutations needs to be further characterized.

Does exercise training improve exercise tolerance, quality of life, and echocardiographic parameters in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) often experience dyspnea, decreased exercise tolerance, and decreased quality of life (QOL). Exercise training is a promising non-pharmacological treatment, with some improvement in exercise tolerance and QOL in HFpEF patients in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs examining the effect of exercise therapy on exercise tolerance, QOL, and echocardiographic parameters in patients with HFpEF. Article database search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials identified 15 publications representing 579 unique patients. Results are presented as weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Exercise training (compared to control) demonstrated a significant improvement in exercise tolerance as measured by peak absolute VO2 (WMD [95% CI] = 164.67 [65.54, 263.79] mL/min), peak relative VO2 (WMD [95% CI] = 1.85 [0.98, 2.73] mL/min/kg), workload (WMD [95% CI] = 12.92 [4.67, 21.17] W), exercise time (WMD [95% CI] = 2.05 [1.57, 2.53] min), anaerobic threshold (WMD [95% CI] = 170.31 [35.40, 305.22] mL/min/kg), and 6-min walk test distance (WMD [95% CI] = 32.77 [20.72, 44.83] m); in QOL as measured by Short Form (SF-36) physical functioning domain (WMD [95% CI] = 9.95 [2.85, 17.05]) and SF-36 vitality domain (WMD [95% CI] = 6.24 [0.15, 12.34]); and in the echocardiographic measure of LVESD (WMD [95% CI] = - 0.16 [- 0.28, - 0.04] cm). In conclusion, we found after systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs that exercise therapy improves exercise tolerance and physical-related quality of life measures.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Incomplete Surgical Closure of the Left Atrial Appendage on Follow-up Transesophageal Echocardiogram.

OBJECTIVES: In patients with atrial fibrillation, incomplete left atrial appendage (LAA) closure is associated with an increased risk for cardio-embolic events compared to complete closure. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for incomplete surgical closure of the LAA in the modern surgical era. METHODS: Records of 74 patients with surgical LAA closure who underwent follow-up transesophageal echocardiogram for any reason between 2010 and 2016, were assessed for incomplete closure. Complete closure was defined by absence of Doppler or color flow between the left atrial appendage and the left atrial body in more than 2 orthogonal views. RESULTS: Surgical LAA closure was incomplete in 21 patients (28%) and complete in 53 patients (72%). All included cases were completed via oversewing method with a double layer of running suture with or without excision of the LAA. While no individual demographic, echocardiographic, or surgical feature was significantly different between groups, incomplete closure of the LAA was more prevalent in patients with two or more of the risk factors; female sex, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia (OR 5.1, 95%Cl 1.5-17). CONCLUSIONS: A significant rate of incomplete surgical LAA closure still exists in the modern surgical era, and the presence of multiple risk factors associate an increased risk of incomplete closure.

Development of an Aryloxazole Class of Hepatitis C Virus Inhibitors Targeting the Entry Stage of the Viral Replication Cycle.

Reliance on hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon systems and protein-based screening assays has led to treatments that target HCV viral replication proteins. The model does not encompass other viral replication cycle steps such as entry, processing, assembly and secretion, or viral host factors. We previously applied a phenotypic high-throughput screening platform based on an infectious HCV system and discovered an aryloxazole-based anti-HCV hit. Structure-activity relationship studies revealed several compounds exhibiting EC50 values below 100 nM. Lead compounds showed inhibition of the HCV pseudoparticle entry, suggesting a different mode of action from existing HCV drugs. Hit 7a and lead 7ii both showed synergistic effects in combination with existing HCV drugs. In vivo pharmacokinetics studies of 7ii showed high liver distribution and long half-life without obvious hepatotoxicity. The lead compounds are promising as preclinical candidates for the treatment of HCV infection and as molecular probes to study HCV pathogenesis.

Evaluation of antiviral drug synergy in an infectious HCV system.

BACKGROUND: Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have greatly improved the treatment of HCV infection. To improve response and prevent resistance, combination regimens have been the focus of clinical development. Regimens are often first assessed in vitro, with most combination studies to date using subgenomic replicon systems, which do not replicate the complete HCV life cycle and preclude study of entry and assembly inhibitors. Infectious full-length HCV systems have been developed and are being used to test drug efficacy. METHODS: Using cell-based HCV Con1b replicon and an infectious full-length HCV (HCVcc-Luc) infection system, we systematically tested the synergy, additivity or antagonism of combinations of protease, NS5A and nucleotide NS5B inhibitor classes as well as the combination of these DAAs with host-targeting agent cyclosporin A or non-antibody entry inhibitor (S)-chlorcyclizine. Two computational software packages, MacSynergyII and CalcuSyn, were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Combinations between different classes showed good consistency across the two viral assay systems and two software platforms. Combinations between NS5A and nucleotide NS5B inhibitors were synergistic, while combinations of protease inhibitors with the other two classes were additive to slightly antagonistic. As expected, combinations of antivirals of the same class were additive. Combination studies between these DAA classes and cyclosporin A or (S)-chlorcyclizine demonstrated additive to synergistic effects and highly synergistic effects, respectively. Combinations of these drugs did not show any added or unexpected cytotoxicity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that in vitro combination studies of anti-HCV DAAs in the HCVcc system may provide useful guidance for drug combination designs in clinical studies. We also demonstrate that these DAAs in combination with host-targeting agents or entry inhibitors may improve HCV treatment response.

Discovery, Optimization, and Characterization of Novel Chlorcyclizine Derivatives for the Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus Infection.

Recently, we reported that chlorcyclizine (CCZ, Rac-2), an over-the-counter antihistamine piperazine drug, possesses in vitro and in vivo activity against hepatitis C virus. Here, we describe structure-activity relationship (SAR) efforts that resulted in the optimization of novel chlorcyclizine derivatives as anti-HCV agents. Several compounds exhibited EC50 values below 10 nM against HCV infection, cytotoxicity selectivity indices above 2000, and showed improved in vivo pharmacokinetic properties. The optimized molecules can serve as lead preclinical candidates for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection and as probes to study hepatitis C virus pathogenesis and host-virus interaction.

Assessing in vivo dynamics of multiple quality attributes from a therapeutic IgG4 monoclonal antibody circulating in cynomolgus monkey.

Characterization of biopharmaceutical proteins and assessment and understanding of the critical quality attributes (CQAs) is a significant part of biopharmaceutical product development and is routinely performed in vitro. In contrast, systematic analysis of the quality attributes in vivo is not as widespread, although metabolism and clearance of multiple variants of therapeutic proteins administered to non-human primates and human subjects may have a different impact on safety, efficacy and exposure. The major hurdles of such studies are usually sample availability and technical capability. In this study, we used affinity purification coupled with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometric analysis of the digested protein for consistent and simultaneous detection of the full amino acid sequence of a therapeutic IgG4 monoclonal antibody, MAB1. This methodology allowed us to assess in vivo changes of all sequence-related modifications and quality attributes of MAB1 over the duration of a preclinical pharmacokinetic study in cynomolgus monkeys.

High-Throughput Screening, Discovery, and Optimization To Develop a Benzofuran Class of Hepatitis C Virus Inhibitors.

Using a high-throughput, cell-based HCV luciferase reporter assay to screen a diverse small-molecule compound collection (∼ 300,000 compounds), we identified a benzofuran compound class of HCV inhibitors. The optimization of the benzofuran scaffold led to the identification of several exemplars with potent inhibition (EC50 < 100 nM) of HCV, low cytotoxicity (CC50 > 25 µM), and excellent selectivity (selective index = CC50/EC50, > 371-fold). The structure-activity studies culminated in the design and synthesis of a 45-compound library to comprehensively explore the anti-HCV activity. The identification, design, synthesis, and biological characterization for this benzofuran series is discussed.

Repurposing of the antihistamine chlorcyclizine and related compounds for treatment of hepatitis C virus infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects an estimated 185 million people worldwide, with chronic infection often leading to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although HCV is curable, there is an unmet need for the development of effective and affordable treatment options. Through a cell-based high-throughput screen, we identified chlorcyclizine HCl (CCZ), an over-the-counter drug for allergy symptoms, as a potent inhibitor of HCV infection. CCZ inhibited HCV infection in human hepatoma cells and primary human hepatocytes. The mode of action of CCZ is mediated by inhibiting an early stage of HCV infection, probably targeting viral entry into host cells. The in vitro antiviral effect of CCZ was synergistic with other anti-HCV drugs, including ribavirin, interferon-α, telaprevir, boceprevir, sofosbuvir, daclatasvir, and cyclosporin A, without significant cytotoxicity, suggesting its potential in combination therapy of hepatitis C. In the mouse pharmacokinetic model, CCZ showed preferential liver distribution. In chimeric mice engrafted with primary human hepatocytes, CCZ significantly inhibited infection of HCV genotypes 1b and 2a, without evidence of emergence of drug resistance, during 4 and 6 weeks of treatment, respectively. With its established clinical safety profile as an allergy medication, affordability, and a simple chemical structure for optimization, CCZ represents a promising candidate for drug repurposing and further development as an effective and accessible agent for treatment of HCV infection.

Mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake by the voltage-dependent anion channel 2 regulates cardiac rhythmicity.

Tightly regulated Ca(2+) homeostasis is a prerequisite for proper cardiac function. To dissect the regulatory network of cardiac Ca(2+) handling, we performed a chemical suppressor screen on zebrafish tremblor embryos, which suffer from Ca(2+) extrusion defects. Efsevin was identified based on its potent activity to restore coordinated contractions in tremblor. We show that efsevin binds to VDAC2, potentiates mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake and accelerates the transfer of Ca(2+) from intracellular stores into mitochondria. In cardiomyocytes, efsevin restricts the temporal and spatial boundaries of Ca(2+) sparks and thereby inhibits Ca(2+) overload-induced erratic Ca(2+) waves and irregular contractions. We further show that overexpression of VDAC2 recapitulates the suppressive effect of efsevin on tremblor embryos whereas VDAC2 deficiency attenuates efsevin's rescue effect and that VDAC2 functions synergistically with MCU to suppress cardiac fibrillation in tremblor. Together, these findings demonstrate a critical modulatory role for VDAC2-dependent mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake in the regulation of cardiac rhythmicity.