Quo vadis Cardiac Glycoside Research?

Cardiac glycosides (CGs), toxins well-known for numerous human and cattle poisoning, are natural compounds, the biosynthesis of which occurs in various plants and animals as a self-protective mechanism to prevent grazing and predation. Interestingly, some insect species can take advantage of the CG's toxicity and by absorbing them, they are also protected from predation. The mechanism of action of CG's toxicity is inhibition of Na+/K+-ATPase (the sodium-potassium pump, NKA), which disrupts the ionic homeostasis leading to elevated Ca2+ concentration resulting in cell death. Thus, NKA serves as a molecular target for CGs (although it is not the only one) and even though CGs are toxic for humans and some animals, they can also be used as remedies for various diseases, such as cardiovascular ones, and possibly cancer. Although the anticancer mechanism of CGs has not been fully elucidated, yet, it is thought to be connected with the second role of NKA being a receptor that can induce several cell signaling cascades and even serve as a growth factor and, thus, inhibit cancer cell proliferation at low nontoxic concentrations. These growth inhibitory effects are often observed only in cancer cells, thereby, offering a possibility for CGs to be repositioned for cancer treatment serving not only as chemotherapeutic agents but also as immunogenic cell death triggers. Therefore, here, we report on CG's chemical structures, production optimization, and biological activity with possible use in cancer therapy, as well as, discuss their antiviral potential which was discovered quite recently. Special attention has been devoted to digitoxin, digoxin, and ouabain.

Endogenous cardiotonic steroids and cardiovascular disease, where to next?

Ever since British Physician William Withering first described the use of foxglove extract for treatment of patients with congestive heart failure in 1785, cardiotonic steroids have been used clinically to treat heart failure and more recently atrial fibrillation. Due to their ability to bind and inhibit the ubiquitous transport enzyme sodium potassium pump, thus regulating intracellular Na+ concentration in every living cell, they are also an essential tool for research into the sodium potassium pump structure and function. Exogenous CTS have been clearly demonstrated to affect cardiovascular system through modulation of vagal tone, cardiac contraction (via ionic changes) and altered natriuresis. Reports of a number of endogenous CTS, since the 1980s, have intensified research into their physiologic and pathophysiologic roles and opened up novel therapeutic targets. Substantive evidence pointing to the role of endogenous ouabain and marinobufagenin, the two most prominent CTS, in development of cardiovascular disease has accumulated. Nevertheless, their presence, structure, biosynthesis pathways and even mechanism of action remain unclear or controversial. In this review the current state-of-the-art, the controversies and the remaining questions surrounding the role of endogenous cardiotonic steroids in health and disease are discussed.

Transcriptome and Metabolite analysis reveal candidate genes of the cardiac glycoside biosynthetic pathway from Calotropis procera.

Calotropis procera is a medicinal plant of immense importance due to its pharmaceutical active components, especially cardiac glycosides (CG). As genomic resources for this plant are limited, the genes involved in CG biosynthetic pathway remain largely unknown till date. Our study on stage and tissue specific metabolite accumulation showed that CG's were maximally accumulated in stems of 3 month old seedlings. De novo transcriptome sequencing of same was done using high throughput Illumina HiSeq platform generating 44074 unigenes with average mean length of 1785 base pair. Around 66.6% of unigenes were annotated by using various public databases and 5324 unigenes showed significant match in the KEGG database involved in 133 different pathways of plant metabolism. Further KEGG analysis resulted in identification of 336 unigenes involved in cardenolide biosynthesis. Tissue specific expression analysis of 30 putative transcripts involved in terpenoid, steroid and cardenolide pathways showed a positive correlation between metabolite and transcript accumulation. Wound stress elevated CG levels as well the levels of the putative transcripts involved in its biosynthetic pathways. This result further validated the involvement of identified transcripts in CGs biosynthesis. The identified transcripts will lay a substantial foundation for further research on metabolic engineering and regulation of cardiac glycosides biosynthesis pathway genes.

Comprehensive transcriptome analysis reveals novel genes involved in cardiac glycoside biosynthesis and mlncRNAs associated with secondary metabolism and stress response in Digitalis purpurea.

BACKGROUND: Digitalis purpurea is an important ornamental and medicinal plant. There is considerable interest in exploring its transcriptome. RESULTS: Through high-throughput 454 sequencing and subsequent assembly, we obtained 23532 genes, of which 15626 encode conserved proteins. We determined 140 unigenes to be candidates involved in cardiac glycoside biosynthesis. It could be grouped into 30 families, of which 29 were identified for the first time in D. purpurea. We identified 2660 mRNA-like npcRNA (mlncRNA) candidates, an emerging class of regulators, using a computational mlncRNA identification pipeline and 13 microRNA-producing unigenes based on sequence conservation and hairpin structure-forming capability. Twenty five protein-coding unigenes were predicted to be targets of these microRNAs. Among the mlncRNA candidates, only 320 could be grouped into 140 families with at least two members in a family. The majority of D. purpurea mlncRNAs were species-specific and many of them showed tissue-specific expression and responded to cold and dehydration stresses. We identified 417 protein-coding genes with regions significantly homologous or complementary to 375 mlncRNAs. It includes five genes involved in secondary metabolism. A positive correlation was found in gene expression between protein-coding genes and the homologous mlncRNAs in response to cold and dehydration stresses, while the correlation was negative when protein-coding genes and mlncRNAs were complementary to each other. CONCLUSIONS: Through comprehensive transcriptome analysis, we not only identified 29 novel gene families potentially involved in the biosynthesis of cardiac glycosides but also characterized a large number of mlncRNAs. Our results suggest the importance of mlncRNAs in secondary metabolism and stress response in D. purpurea.

[New steroid hormone family: endogenous cardiac glycosides and their role in physiologic and pathologic conditions]. / Uj szteroidhormon-család: az endogén szívglikozidok és szerepük a szervezetben fiziológiás és patológiás körülmények között.

In the last two decades extensive study has been carried out on the isolation, identification and biosynthesis of the "endogenous digitalis-like compounds" whose physiological and pathophysiological functions are only starting to be understood. Besides ouabain (strophanthin) and digoxin, four further endogenous cardiac glycosides were isolated and identified so far. These compounds are found in almost all mammalian tissues, including blood plasma and urine, but with the highest concentrations in the adrenal gland, pituitary and hypothalamus. De novo biosynthesis of these glycosides occurs in zona fasciculata cells of adrenal glands, precursors such as progesterone, pregnenolone, and rhamnose increase the synthesis of the ouabain-like immunoreactive material. The secretion of these compounds from the adrenocortical cells are controlled by adrenerg mechanisms, as well as via the renin-angiotensin system. The hydrophobic cardiac glycosides are transported in blood as complexes bound to specific binding globulins. The identified endogenous cardiac glycosides fulfill all the postulated criterions of the hormones, so they represent a new class of steroid hormones. The cardiac glycosides influence the active sodium pump, indirectly the intracellular free calcium concentration and therefore exert a positive inotropic effect on cardiac muscle. Furthermore, in physiological concentrations they can regulate the cell growth and protein synthesis inducing activation of intracellular signal pathways. Under pathological conditions, however, when the concentration of these steroids are high, they play a crucial role in the development of different serious illnesses such as essential hypertension as well as congestive heart failure. Further intensive investigations are needed to clarify some contradictory details accumulated during the last few years in this field.

3 alpha-Hydroxysteroid-5 beta-oxidoreductase in tissue cultures of Digitalis lanata.

Putative intermediates of cardenolide biosynthesis, namely progesterone, pregnenolone, 5 beta-pregnane-3,20-dione or 5 beta-pregnan-3 beta-ol-20-one, were administered to light- or dark-grown shoot cultures of Digitalis lanata. The unsaturated compounds were reduced to their respective 5 alpha-pregnanes, 5 beta-pregnane-3,20-dione was reduced to 5 beta-pregnan-3 alpha-ol-20-one and 5 beta-pregnan-3 beta-ol-20-one was isomerized to the respective 3 alpha-pregnane. Suspension cultures of Digitalis lanata, on the other hand, accumulated both the 3 alpha- and the 3 beta-isomer of 5 beta-pregnan-3-ol-20-one when incubated in the presence of 5 beta-pregnane-3,20-dione. When 5 beta-pregnan-3 alpha-ol-20-one was administered the cultured cells accumulated large amounts of the 3 beta-isomer together with small amounts of 5 beta-pregnane-3,20-dione, which may be regarded as an intermediate during the isomerization reaction. Cell-free, buffered extracts from light-grown shoots were shown to reduce 5 beta-pregnane-3,20-dione almost exclusively to 5 beta-pregnan-3 alpha-ol-20-one when 0.05 M MgCl2 were present in the incubation mixture. Under these conditions the formation of 5 beta-pregnan-3 beta-ol-20-one was inhibited. The enzyme activity could be recovered from membrane-free supernatants. Optimum enzyme activity occurred at pH 7.0 and 42 degrees C. The energy of activation was 56.2 kJ/mol and the enzyme reaction was found to be NADPH-dependent. SH reagents were essential for enzyme activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)