Binding energies of the drugs capreomycin and streptomycin in complex with tuberculosis bacterial ribosome subunits.

Despite advances, tuberculosis remains a significant infectious disease, whose mortality presents alarming numbers. Although it can be cured, the number of cases of antimicrobial resistant strains is increasing, requiring the use of less efficient second-line drugs. Capreomycin and streptomycin are part of this group, being antibiotics whose mechanism of action is the inhibition of protein synthesis when interacting with the tuberculosis bacterial ribosome. Their binding mechanisms are distinct: capreomycin is able to bind to both ribosomal (30S and 50S) subunits, whereas streptomycin binds only to the smaller one (30S). In this context, the biochemical characterization of these binding sites for a proper understanding of their complex interactions is of crucial importance to increase their efficacy. Through crystallographic data and computer simulations, in this work we calculated the interaction binding energies of capreomycin and streptomycin in complex with the tuberculosis bacterial ribosome subunits, by using density functional theory (DFT) within the molecular fractionation with conjugated caps (MFCC) approach. For capreomycin in the 30S (50S) subunit, we investigated the binding energies of 44 (30) residues presented within a pocket radius of 14 Å (30 Å). Regarding streptomycin, 60 nucleotide (25 amino acid) residues distributed up to 12.5 Å (15 Å) away from the drug in the 30S subunit (S12 protein) were taken into account. We also identify the contributions of hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions in the drug-receptor complex, and the regions of the drugs that most contributed to the anchorages of them in their binding sites, as well as identify residues that are most associated with mutations.

Capreomycin oleate microparticles for intramuscular administration: Preparation, in vitro release and preliminary in vivo evaluation.

Capreomycin sulfate (CS) is a second-line drug used for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The adverse effects profile and uncomfortable administration scheme of CS has led to the development of formulations based on liposomes and polymeric microparticles. However, as CS is a water-soluble peptide that does not encapsulate properly into hydrophobic particulate matrices, it was necessary to reduce its aqueous solubility by forming the pharmacologically active capreomycin oleate (CO) ion pair. The aim of this research was to develop a new formulation of CO for intramuscular injection, based on biodegradable microparticles that encapsulate CO in order to provide a controlled release of the drug with reduced local and systemic adverse effects. The CO-loaded microparticles prepared by spray drying or solvent emulsion-evaporation were characterized in their morphology, encapsulation efficiency, in vitro/in vivo kinetics and tissue tolerance. Through scanning electron microscopy it was confirmed that the microparticles were monodisperse and spherical, with an optimal size for intramuscular administration. The interaction between CO and the components of the microparticle matrix was confirmed on both formulations by X-ray powder diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry analyses. The encapsulation efficiencies for the spray-dried and emulsion-evaporation microparticles were 92% and 56%, respectively. The in vitro kinetics performed on both formulations demonstrated a controlled and continuous release of CO from the microparticles, which was successfully reproduced on an in vivo rodent model. The results of the histological analysis demonstrated that none of the formulations produced significant tissue damage on the site of injection. Therefore, the results suggest that injectable CO microparticles obtained by spray drying and solvent emulsion-evaporation could represent an interesting therapeutic alternative for the treatment of MDR-TB.