New insights into the possible role of bacteriophages in host defense and disease

BACKGROUND: While the ability of bacteriophages to kill bacteria is well known and has been used in some centers to combat antibiotics – resistant infections, our knowledge about phage interactions with mammalian cells is very limited and phages have been believed to have no intrinsic tropism for those cells. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: At least some phages (e.g., T4 coliphage) express Lys-Arg-Gly (KGD) sequence which binds β3 integrins (primarily αIIbβ3). Therefore, phages could bind β3+ cells (platelets, monocytes, some lymphocytes and some neoplastic cells) and downregulate activities of those cells by inhibiting integrin functions. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS: Binding of KGD+ phages to β3 integrin+ cells may be detected using standard techniques involving phage – mediated bacterial lysis and plaque formation. Furthermore, the binding may be visualized by electron microscopy and fluorescence using labelled phages. Binding specificity can be confirmed with the aid of specific blocking peptides and monoclonal antibodies. In vivo effects of phage – cell interactions may be assessed by examining the possible biological effects of β3 blockade (e.g., anti-metastatic activity). IMPLICATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: If, indeed, phages can modify functions of β3+ cells (platelets, monocytes, lymphocytes, cancer cells) they could be important biological response modifiers regulating migration and activities of those cells. Such novel understanding of their role could open novel perspectives in their potential use in treatment of cardiovascular and autoimmune disease, graft rejection and cancer

Synthesis and biological activity of raltitrexed-carrier conjugates

Drugs used in chemotherapy give undesirable side effects, e.g., cardiotoxicity, leucopenia, hair loss and others. Covalent binding of a drug with a carrier may change its biodistribution, elimination and/or rate of transformation in the organism. The aim of this work was to synthesize conjugates of anticancer drug - raltitrexed (RTX) with lysozyme, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and dextran T40 and to investigate their cytotoxicity and influence on the cell cycle in comparison with the free drug. Before conjugation RTX was transformed into anhydride by treatment with dicyclohexylcarbodiimide in dimethylformamide. Activated RTX was added into aqueous solution of carriers at different pH (from 8.5 to 10.5) for 3 to 15 min. The reaction was stopped by reducing the pH to 7.0. Maximum yield of the reaction was obtained at pH 10 for BSA as well as for dextran. The highest level of substitution was obtained after 5 min of the reaction. In in vitro experiments on three cell lines: SW707, LoVo and A549, all conjugates tested had up to a few hundred times higher IC50 than the free drug. Interestingly, it was noticed that the conjugates based on dextran and albumin were more cytotoxic than the free drug in the highest concentrations tested (1000 and 10000 ng/ml). The influence of RTX and the conjugates on SW707 cell cycle was studied. RTX blocked the cell cycle mostly in the G0-G1 and S phase and increased the percentage of apoptotic cells. Cells in the G2-M phase were not observed. The conjugates blocked the cell cycle in the S phase and decreased the percentage of cells in the G0-G1 phase