Novel treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia: As2O3, retinoic acid and retinoid pharmacology.

Acute promyelocytic leukemia(APL), a specific characteristic of t(15;17) chromosome translocation, represents 5% to 15% of cases of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. An alternative approach is to consider retinoic acid(all-trans RA, ATRA or 13-cis RA or 9-cis RA) plus chemotherapy or RA plus As2O3 regimens as now novel therapy. Molecular gene analyses are conclusive in vivo evidence that oncogenic PML/RARa plays a crucial role in APL leukemogenesis. As a novel approach to APL treatment, one possible the action of RA, A consense sequence (5'-TCAGGTCATGACCTGA-3') has been postulated for the thyroid hormone (TRE) and retinoic acid responsive element (RARE) containing half palindromes, which located in the promoter region of target genes. High dose (100-fold) of RA-RARE-PML/RARa complex in intracellular localization appears to relieve repressor from DNA binding, including corepressors N-CoR, SMRT and HDACs, release PML/RARa- mediated transcriptional repression, and release histone deacetylase activity from PMLRARa. The resulting PML/RARa oncoprotein proteolytic degradation through the autophagy-lysosome pathway and the ubiquitin SUMO-proteasome system (UPS), as well as caspase 3 (cleavage site Asp522 within a-helics region of PML component of the fusion protein) or neutrophil elastase, or lysosomal protease enzyme induction. PML protein relocalizes into the wild-type nuclear body (PML-NB) configuration or/and wild-type RARa upregulated. An effect to relieve the blockade (inhibition) of PML/RARA-mediated RA dependent promyelocytic differentiation, and retinoic acid in APL therapy (see Figure in the full text, George Zhu, 1991). Here, like v-erbA, PML/RARa is a (strong) transcriptional repressor of the RA receptor (RAR) complex, and PML/RARa fusion receptor gene act as conditional oncogenic receptor (translocated chimeric retinoic acid a signaling) or oncogenic PML/RARa may participate in leukemogenesis of APL through blocking RA-mediated promyelocytic differentiation. This is first described in eukaryotes.

Sequence-specific inhibition of duck hepatitis B virus reverse transcription by peptide nucleic acids (PNA).

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) appear as promising new antisense agents, that have not yet been examined as hepatitis B virus (HBV) inhibitors. Our aim was to study the ability of PNAs targeting the duck HBV (DHBV) encapsidation signal epsilon to inhibit reverse transcription (RT) and to compare their efficacy with phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides (S-ODNs). METHODS: The effect of two partly overlapping PNAs targeting epsilon and of analogous S-ODNs was tested in cell-free transcription and translation system for DHBV RT expression. In addition their antiviral effect was investigated in primary duck hepatocytes (PDH). RESULTS: Both PNAs reproducibly inhibited DHBV RT in a dose-dependent manner with IC(50) of 10nM, whereas up to 600-fold higher concentration of S-ODNs was required for similar inhibition. The PNA targeting the bulge and upper stem of epsilon appeared as more efficient RT inhibitor than the PNA targeting only the bulge. Importantly, the inhibition was highly sequence-specific since double-mismatched PNA had no effect on the RT reaction. Moreover, in PDH the PNA coupled to Arg(7) cationic delivery peptide decreased DHBV replication. CONCLUSIONS: We provide the first evidence that PNAs targeting the bulge and upper stem of epsilon can efficiently and in a sequence-specific manner inhibit DHBV RT.

Effects of pyrimidine and purine analog combinations in the duck hepatitis B virus infection model.

To design new strategies of antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B, we have evaluated the antiviral activity of the combination of amdoxovir (DAPD), emtricitabine [(-)FTC], and clevudine (L-FMAU) in the duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) model. Using their triphosphate (TP) derivatives in a cell-free system expressing a wild-type active DHBV reverse transcriptase (RT), the three dual combinations exhibited a greater additive inhibitory effect on viral minus-strand DNA synthesis than the single drugs, according to the Bliss independence model. Both dual combinations with DAPD TP were the most efficient while the triple combination increased the inhibitory effect on the DHBV RT activity in comparison with the dual association, however, without additive effect. Postinoculation treatment of experimentally infected primary duck hepatocytes showed that dual and triple combinations potently inhibited viral DNA synthesis during treatment but did not inhibit the reinitiation of viral DNA synthesis after treatment cessation. Preinoculation treatment with the same combinations exhibited antiviral effects on intracellular viral DNA replication, but it was unable to prevent the initial covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) formation. Short-term in vivo treatment in acutely infected ducklings showed that the dual combinations were more-potent inhibitors of virus production than the single treatments, with the L-FMAU and FTC combination being the most potent. A longer administration of L-FMAU and FTC for 4 weeks efficiently suppressed viremia and viral replication. However, no viral clearance from the liver was observed, suggesting that the enhanced antiviral effect of this combination was not sufficient for cccDNA suppression and HBV eradication from infected cells.

Inhibitory activity of dioxolane purine analogs on wild-type and lamivudine-resistant mutants of hepadnaviruses.

To design combination strategies for chronic hepatitis B therapy, we evaluated in vitro the inhibitory activity of 4 nucleoside analogs, (-)FTC, L-FMAU, DXG, and DAPD, in comparison with lamivudine (3TC) and PMEA. In a cell-free assay for the expression of wild-type duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) reverse transcriptase, DAPD-TP was found to be the most active on viral minus strand DNA synthesis, including the priming reaction, followed by 3TC-TP, (-)FTC-TP, and DXG-TP, whereas L-FMAU-TP was a weak inhibitor. In cell culture experiments, important differences in drug concentration allowing a 50% inhibition of viral replication or polymerase activity (IC50s) were observed depending on the cell type used, showing that antiviral effect of nucleoside analogs may depend on their intracellular metabolism. IC50s obtained for wild-type DHBV replication in primary duck hepatocytes were much lower than with DHBV transfected LMH cells. IC50s were also significantly lower in the 2.2.1.5 and HepG2 cells compared with HBV transfected HuH7 cells. Moreover, L-FMAU inhibited preferentially HBV plus strand DNA synthesis in these cell lines. The antiviral effect of these inhibitors was also evaluated against 3TC-resistant mutants of the DHBV and HBV polymerases. These mutants were found to be cross resistant to (-)FTC. By contrast, the double DHBV polymerase mutant was sensitive to DXG-TP and DAPD-TP. Moreover, both purine analogs remained active against DHBV and HBV 3TC-resistant mutants in transfected LMH and HepG2 cells, respectively. In conclusion, the unique mechanism of action of these new inhibitors warrants further evaluation in experimental models to determine their capacity to delay or prevent the selection of drug resistant mutants.