Met-Lys-bradykinin-Ser-Ser, a peptide produced by the neutrophil from kininogen, is metabolically activated by angiotensin converting enzyme in vascular tissue

Bradykinin (BK) is a vasoactive nonapeptide cleaved from circulating kininogens and that is degraded by angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). It has been reported that the PR3 protease from human neutrophil releases an alternate peptide of 13 amino acids, Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser, from high molecular weight kininogen. We have studied vascular actions of this kinin. Its affinity for recombinant B1 and B2 receptors is very low, as assessed by the binding competition of [3H]Lys-des-Arg9-BK and [3H]BK, respectively, but Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser effectively displaced a fraction of [3H]enalaprilat binding to recombinant ACE. Mutant recombinant ACE constructions revealed that affinity gap between BK and Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser is larger for the N-terminal catalytic site than for the C-terminal one, based on competition for the substrate Abz-Phe-Arg-Lys(Dnp)-Pro-OH in an enzymatic assay. Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser is a low potency stimulant of the rabbit aorta (bioassay for B1 receptors), but the human isolated umbilical vein, a contractile bioassay for the B2 receptors, responded to Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser more than expected from the radioligand binding assay, this agonist being ∼30-fold less potent than BK in the vein. Venous tissue treatment with the ACE inhibitor enalaprilat reduced the apparent potency of Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser by 15-fold, while not affecting that of BK. In the rabbit isolated jugular vein, Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser is nearly as potent as BK as a contractile stimulant of endogenous B2 receptors (EC50 values of 16.3 and 10.5 nM, respectively), but enalaprilat reduced the potency of Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser 13-fold while increasing that of BK 5.3-fold. In vascular tissue, ACE assumes a paradoxical activating role for Met-Lys-BK-Ser-Ser

Cation trapping by cellular acidic compartments: beyond the concept of lysosomotropic drugs

“Lysosomotropic” cationic drugs are known to concentrate in acidic cell compartments due to low retro-diffusion of the protonated molecule (ion trapping); they draw water by an osmotic mechanism, leading to a vacuolar response. Several aspects of this phenomenon were recently reexamined. (1) The proton pump vacuolar (V)-ATPase is the driving force of cationic drug uptake and ensuing vacuolization. In quantitative transport experiments, V-ATPase inhibitors, such as bafilomycin A1, greatly reduced the uptake of cationic drugs and released them in preloaded cells. (2) Pigmented or fluorescent amines are effectively present in a concentrated form in the large vacuoles. (3) Consistent with V-ATPase expression in trans-Golgi, lysosomes and endosomes, a fraction of the vacuoles is consistently labeled with trans-Golgi markers and protein secretion and endocytosis are often inhibited in vacuolar cells. (4) Macroautophagic signaling (accumulation of lipidated and membrane-bound LC3 II) and labeling of the large vacuoles by the autophagy effector LC3 were consistently observed in cells, precisely at incubation periods and amine concentrations that cause vacuolization. Vacuoles also exhibit late endosome/lysosome markers, because they may originate from such organelles or because macroautophagosomes fuse with lysosomes. Autophagosome persistence is likely due to the lack of resolution of autophagy, rather than to nutritional deprivation. (5) Increased lipophilicity decreases the threshold concentration for the vacuolar and autophagic cytopathology, because simple diffusion into cells is limiting. (6) A still unexplained mitotic arrest is consistently observed in cells loaded with amines. An extended recognition of relevant clinical situations is proposed for local or systemic drug administration

A Novel Nonpeptide Antagonist of the Kinin B 1 Receptor: Effects at the Rabbit Receptor

ABSTRACT The kinin B 1 receptor (B 1 R) has attracted interest as a potential therapeutic target because this inducible G protein-coupled receptor is involved in sustained inflammation and inflammatory pain production. is a high-affinity nonpeptide antagonist for the human B 1 R, but it is potent at the rabbit B 1 R as well: its K i value for the inhibition of [ The kinin B 1 receptor (B 1 R) is a G protein-coupled receptor selectively stimulated by sequences related to bradykinin (BK) but not by BK itself. Instead, des-Arg 9 -BK, Lys-BK (kallidin) and Lys-des-Arg 9 -BK (des-Arg 1

Bradykinin receptors : agonists, antagonists, expression, signaling and adaptation to sustained stimulation

Bradykinin-related peptides, the kinins, are blood-derived peptides that stimulate 2 G protein–coupled receptors, the B1 and B2 receptors (B1R, B2R). The pharmacologic and molecular identities of these 2 receptor subtypes will be succinctly reviewed, with emphasis on drug development, receptor expression, signaling, and adaptation to persistent stimulation. Peptide and nonpeptide antagonists and fluorescent ligands have been produced for each receptor. The B2R is widely and constitutively expressed in mammalian tissues, whereas the B1R is mostly inducible under the effect of cytokines during infection and immunopathology. Both receptor subtypes mediate the vascular aspects of inflammation (vasodilation, edema formation). On this basis, icatibant, a peptide antagonist of the B2R, is approved in the management of hereditary angioedema attacks. Other clinical applications are still elusive despite the maturity of the medicinal chemistry efforts applied to kinin receptors. While both receptor subtypes are mainly coupled to the Gq protein and related second messengers, the B2R is temporarily desensitized by a cycle of phosphorylation/endocytosis followed by recycling, whereas the nonphosphorylable B1R is relatively resistant to desensitization and translocated to caveolae on activation

Vascular smooth muscle contractility assays for inflammatory and immunological mediators

The blood vessels are one of the important target tissues for the mediators of inflammation and allergy; further cytokines affect them in a number of ways. We review the use of the isolated blood vessel mounted in organ baths as an important source of pharmacological information. While its use in the bioassay of vasoactive substances tends to be replaced with modern analytical techniques, contractility assays are effective to evaluate novel synthetic drugs, generating robust potency and selectivity data about agonists, partial agonists and competitive or insurmountable antagonists. For instance, the human umbilical vein has been used extensively to characterize ligands of the bradykinin B2 receptors. Isolated vascular segments are live tissues that are intensely reactive, notably with the regulated expression of gene products relevant for inflammation (e.g., the kinin B1 receptor and inducible nitric oxide synthase). Further, isolated vessels can be adapted as assays of unconventional proteins (cytokines such as interleukin-1, proteases of physiopathological importance, complement-derived anaphylatoxins and recombinant hemoglobin) and to the gene knockout technology. The well known cross-talks between different cell types, e.g., endothelium-muscle and nerve terminal-muscle, can be extended (smooth muscle cell interaction with resident or infiltrating leukocytes and tumor cells). Drug metabolism and distribution problems can be modeled in a useful manner using the organ bath technology, which, for all these reasons, opens a window on an intermediate level of complexity relative to cellular and molecular pharmacology on one hand, and in vivo studies on the other

Assessment of cation trapping by cellular acidic compartments

All nucleated cells, from yeast to animal cells, concentrate cationic chemicals (weak bases with a pKa ~8-10) into acidic cell compartments (low retro-diffusion under a protonated form at low pH = ion trapping). The proton pump vacuolar (V)-ATPase is the driving force of this pseudotransport that concerns acidic organelles (mainly late endosomes and lysosomes). The latter rapidly become swollen (osmotic vacuolization) and macroautophagic. Cation concentration in cells is not proven to involve membrane transporters, but is prevented or reversed by inhibitors of V-ATPase, such as bafilomycin A1. Lipophilicity is a major determinant of the apparent affinity of this pseudotransport because simple diffusion of the uncharged form supports it. Quinacrine is a formerly used anti-parasitic drug that is intensely fluorescent, lipophilic and a tertiary amine. The drug, at micromolar concentrations, is proposed as a superior probe for assessing cation trapping by cellular acidic compartments, being readily quantified using fluorometry in cell extracts and analyzed using microscopy and cytofluorometry (fluorescence settings for fluorescein being applicable). Further, cells respond to micromolar levels of quinacrine by autophagic accumulation (e.g., accumulation of the activated macroautophagic effector LC3 II, immunoblots), an objective and universal response to sequestered amines

Autophagic flux inhibition and lysosomogenesis ensuing cellular capture and retention of the cationic drug quinacrine in murine models

The proton pump vacuolar (V)-ATPase is the driving force that mediates the concentration of cationic drugs (weak bases) in the late endosome-lysosome continuum; secondary cell reactions include the protracted transformation of enlarged vacuoles into autophagosomes. We used the inherently fluorescent tertiary amine quinacrine in murine models to further assess the accumulation and signaling associated with cation trapping. Primary fibroblasts concentrate quinacrine ∼5,000-fold from their culture medium (KM 9.8 µM; transport studies). The drug is present in perinuclear granules that are mostly positive for Rab7 and LAMP1 (microscopy). Both drug uptake and retention are extensively inhibited by treatments with the V-ATPase inhibitor bafilomycin A1. The H+ ionophore monensin also prevented quinacrine concentration by fibroblasts. However, inhibition of plasma membrane transporters or of the autophagic process with spautin-1 did not alter quinacrine transport parameters. Ancillary experiments did not support that low micromolar concentrations of quinacrine are substrates for organic cation transporters-1 to -3 or P-glycoprotein. The secondary autophagy induced by quinacrine in cells may derive from the accumulation of incompetent autophagolysosomes, as judged from the accumulation of p62/SQSTM1 and LC3 II (immunoblots). Accordingly, protracted lysosomogenesis is evidenced by increased expression of LAMP1 and LAMP2 in quinacrine-treated fibroblasts (48 h, immunoblots), a response that follows the nuclear translocation of the lysosomal genesis transcription factor TFEB and upregulation of LAMP1 and −2 mRNAs (24 h). Quinacrine administration to live mice evidenced variable distribution to various organs and heterogeneous accumulation within the lung (stereo-microscopy, extraction). Dose-dependent in vivo autophagic and lysosomal accumulation was observed in the lung (immunoblots). No evidence has been found for transport or extrusion mechanisms modulating the cellular uptake of micromolar quinacrine at the plasma membrane level. As shown in vitro and in vivo, V-ATPase-mediated cation sequestration is associated, above a certain threshold, to autophagic flux inhibition and feed-back lysosomogenesis

Bradykinin receptors : agonists, antagonists, expression, signaling, and adaptation to sustained stimulation

Bradykinin-related peptides, the kinins, are blood-derived peptides that stimulate 2 G protein–coupled receptors, the B1 and B2 receptors (B1R, B2R). The pharmacologic and molecular identities of these 2 receptor subtypes will be succinctly reviewed herein, with emphasis on drug development, receptor expression, signaling, and adaptation to persistent stimulation. Peptide and non-peptide antagonists and fluorescent ligands have been produced for each receptor. The B2R is widely and constitutively expressed in mammalian tissues, whereas the B1R is mostly inducible under the effect of cytokines during infection and immunopathology. The B2R is temporarily desensitized by a cycle of phosphorylation/endocytosis followed by recycling, whereas the nonphosphorylable B1R is relatively resistant to desensitization and translocated to caveolae on activation. Both receptor subtypes, mainly coupled to protein G Gq, phospholipase C and calcium signaling, mediate the vascular aspects of inflammation (vasodilation, edema formation). On this basis, icatibant, a peptide antagonist of the B2R, is approved in the management of hereditary angioedema attacks. This disease is the therapeutic showcase of the kallikrein-kinin system, with an orally bioavailable B2R antagonist under development, as well as other agents that inhibit the kinin forming protease, plasma kallikrein. Other clinical applications are still elusive despite the maturity of the medicinal chemistry efforts applied to kinin receptors