Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues.

Ether lipids are compounds present in many living organisms including humans that feature an ether bond linkage at the sn-1 position of the glycerol. This class of lipids features singular structural roles and biological functions. Alkyl ether lipids and alkenyl ether lipids (also identified as plasmalogens) correspond to the two sub-classes of naturally occurring ether lipids. In 1979 the discovery of the structure of the platelet-activating factor (PAF) that belongs to the alkyl ether class of lipids increased the interest in these bioactive lipids and further promoted the synthesis of non-natural ether lipids that was initiated in the late 60's with the development of edelfosine (an anticancer drug). More recently, ohmline, a glyco glycero ether lipid that modulates selectively SK3 ion channels and reduces in vivo the occurrence of bone metastases, and other glyco glycero ether also identified as GAEL (glycosylated antitumor ether lipids) that exhibit promising anticancer properties renew the interest in this class of compounds. Indeed, ether lipid represent a new and promising class of compounds featuring the capacity to modulate selectively the activity of some membrane proteins or, for other compounds, feature antiproliferative properties via an original mechanism of action. The increasing interest in studying ether lipids for fundamental and applied researches invited to review the methodologies developed to prepare ether lipids. In this review we focus on the synthetic method used for the preparation of alkyl ether lipids either naturally occurring ether lipids (e.g., PAF) or synthetic derivatives that were developed to study their biological properties. The synthesis of neutral or charged ether lipids are reported with the aim to assemble in this review the most frequently used methodologies to prepare this specific class of compounds.

Synthesis of α-amino-lipophosphonates as cationic lipids or co-lipids for DNA transfection in dendritic cells.

Cationic lipid/co-lipid combinations have been extensively explored in gene delivery as alternatives to viral vectors. To be established as a gold standard of chemical vectors, considerable improvement in their transfection efficiency is however required. Herein, we report a simple procedure to synthesize new cationic lipids and co-lipids for the DNA transfection of dendritic cells (DCs). Seven α-amino-lipophosphonates featuring two aza-heterocycles with protonable sites (imidazole or pyridine) were synthesized and used as co-lipids in liposomes with cationic lipids. For each liposome, the cationic lipid is either an imidazolium lipophosphoramidate (lipid 2) or an α-amino-lipophosphonate containing a basic tertiary aliphatic amine in the polar head group (lipid 3b). The cationic lipids either with new co-lipids or DOPE formed positively charged nano-sized stable liposomes that effectively interact with plasmid DNA (pDNA) to produce lipoplexes. Membrane fusion studies showed that α-amino-phosphonates featuring an imidazole moiety in the polar head group exhibited higher fusion at pH 5.5 than pH 7.4. This study suggests that the best formulations for the transfection of DCs (based on the % transfected cells and the intensity of EGFP-based fluorescence) are lipid 2 associated with either 3a, 3d or DOPE and cationic lipid 3b formulated with 3a or DOPE as a helper lipid. Furthermore, lipid 3a could be used as an alternative to DOPE as a helper lipid. Overall, these results indicate that novel imidazole containing α-amino-phosphonates can serve as effective transfection agents for DC-based vaccines.

New Disaccharide-Based Ether Lipids as SK3 Ion Channel Inhibitors.

The SK3 potassium channel is involved in the development of bone metastasis and in the settlement of cancer cells in Ca(2+) -rich environments. Ohmline, which is a lactose-based glycero-ether lipid, is a lead compound that decreases SK3 channel activity and consequently limits the migration of SK3-expressing cells. Herein we report the synthesis of three new ohmline analogues in which the connection of the disaccharide moieties (1→6 versus 1→4) and the stereochemistry of the glycosyl linkage was studied. Compound 2 [3-(hexadecyloxy)-2-methoxypropyl-6-O-α-d-glucopyranosyl-ß-d-galactopyranoside], which possesses an α-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-ß-galactopyranosyl moiety, was found to decrease SK3 current amplitude (70 % inhibition at 10 µm), displace SK3 protein outside caveolae, and decrease constitutive Ca(2+) entry (50 % inhibition at 300 nm) and SK3-dependent cell migration (30 % at 300 nm) at a level close to that of the benchmark compound ohmline. Compound 2, which decreases the activity of SK3 channel (but not SK2 channel), is a new drug candidate to reduce cancer cell migration and to prevent bone metastasis.

Evaluation of New Fluorescent Lipophosphoramidates for Gene Transfer and Biodistribution Studies after Systemic Administration.

The objective of lung gene therapy is to reach the respiratory epithelial cells in order to deliver a functional nucleic acid sequence. To improve the synthetic carrier's efficacy, knowledge of their biodistribution and elimination pathways, as well as cellular barriers faced, depending on the administration route, is necessary. Indeed, the in vivo fate guides the adaptation of their chemical structure and formulation to increase their transfection capacity while maintaining their tolerance. With this goal, lipidic fluorescent probes were synthesized and formulated with cationic lipophosphoramidate KLN47 (KLN: Karine Le Ny). We found that such formulations present constant compaction properties and similar transfection results without inducing additional cytotoxicity. Next, biodistribution profiles of pegylated and unpegylated lipoplexes were compared after systemic injection in mice. Pegylation of complexes led to a prolonged circulation in the bloodstream, whereas their in vivo bioluminescent expression profiles were similar. Moreover, systemic administration of pegylated lipoplexes resulted in a transient liver toxicity. These results indicate that these new fluorescent compounds could be added into lipoplexes in small amounts without perturbing the transfection capacities of the formulations. Such additional properties allow exploration of the in vivo biodistribution profiles of synthetic carriers as well as the expression intensity of the reporter gene.