Therapeutic properties of a vector carrying the HSV thymidine kinase and GM-CSF genes and delivered as a complex with a cationic copolymer.

BACKGROUND: Gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) represents a technology to improve drug selectivity for cancer cells. It consists of delivery into tumor cells of a suicide gene responsible for in situ conversion of a prodrug into cytotoxic metabolites. Major limitations of GDEPT that hinder its clinical application include inefficient delivery into cancer cells and poor prodrug activation by suicide enzymes. We tried to overcome these constraints through a combination of suicide gene therapy with immunomodulating therapy. Viral vectors dominate in present-day GDEPT clinical trials due to efficient transfection and production of therapeutic genes. However, safety concerns associated with severe immune and inflammatory responses as well as high cost of the production of therapeutic viruses can limit therapeutic use of virus-based therapeutics. We tried to overcome this problem by using a simple nonviral delivery system. METHODS: We studied the antitumor efficacy of a PEI (polyethylenimine)-PEG (polyethylene glycol) copolymer carrying the HSVtk gene combined in one vector with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) cDNA. The system HSVtk-GM-CSF/PEI-PEG was tested in vitro in various mouse and human cell lines, ex vivo and in vivo using mouse models. RESULTS: We showed that the HSVtk-GM-CSF/PEI-PEG system effectively inhibited the growth of transplanted human and mouse tumors, suppressed metastasis and increased animal lifespan. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that appreciable tumor shrinkage and metastasis inhibition could be achieved with a simple and low toxic chemical carrier - a PEI-PEG copolymer. Our data indicate that combined suicide and cytokine gene therapy may provide a powerful approach for the treatment of solid tumors and their metastases.

Synthesis and properties of the red chromophore of the green-to-red photoconvertible fluorescent protein Kaede and its analogs.

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) and homologous proteins possess a unique pathway of chromophore formation based on autocatalytic modification of their own amino acid residues. Green-to-red photoconvertible fluorescent protein Kaede carries His-Tyr-Gly chromophore-forming triad. Here, we describe synthesis of Kaede red chromophore (2-[(1E)-2-(5-imidazolyl)ethenyl]-4-(p-hydroxybenzylidene)-5-imidazolone) and its analogs that can be potentially formed by natural amino acid residues. Chromophores corresponding to the following tripeptides were obtained: His-Tyr-Gly, Trp-Tyr-Gly, Phe-Trp-Gly, Tyr-Trp-Gly, Asn-Tyr-Gly, Phe-Tyr-Gly, and Tyr-Tyr-Gly. In basic conditions they fluoresced red with relatively high quantum yield (up to 0.017 for Trp-derived compounds). The most red-shifted absorption peak at 595nm was found for the chromophore Trp-Tyr-Gly in basic DMSO. Surprisingly, in basic DMF non-aromatic Asn-derived chromophore Asn-Tyr-Gly demonstrated the most red-shifted emission maximum at 642 nm. Thus, Asn residue may be a promising substituent, which can potentially diversify posttranslational chemistry in GFP-like proteins.

Synthesis and properties of the chromophore of the asFP595 chromoprotein from Anemonia sulcata.

A model compound for the chromophore within the purple nonfluorescent GFP-like chromoprotein asFP595 was synthesized. The postulated structure of the chromophore, 2-acetyl-4-(p-hydroxybenzylidene)-1-methyl-5-imidazolone, was taken from the high-resolution crystal structure analysis of intact asFP595 [Quillin, M. L., Anstrom, D., Shu, X., O'Leary, S., Kallio, K., Lukyanov, K. A., and Remington, S. J. (2005) Kindling Fluorescent Protein from Anemonia sulcata: Dark-State Structure at 1.38 A Resolution, Biochemistry 44, 5774-5787]. Erlenmeyer lactonization and oxidation of the methylene group attached to the heteroaromatic moiety with selenium dioxide were used at the key stages of the synthesis. The spectral properties of the model chromophore in solution and their dependence on the pH and polarity of the solvent were investigated. In water, the chromophore was found to exist in two forms, neutral and anionic, with a pK(a) of 7.1. In a dimethylformamide solution, the spectral properties of the anionic form closely match those of the native protein, demonstrating that under these conditions, the compound is an excellent model for the chromophore within native asFP595.