Increased expression of receptor phosphotyrosine phosphatase-β/ζ is associated with molecular, cellular, behavioral and cognitive schizophrenia phenotypes

Schizophrenia is a serious and chronic mental disorder, in which both genetic and environmental factors have a role in the development of the disease. Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) is one of the most established genetic risk factors for schizophrenia, and disruption of NRG1 signaling has been reported in this disorder. We reported previously that NRG1/ErbB4 signaling is inhibited by receptor phosphotyrosine phosphatase-β/ζ (RPTP β/ζ) and that the gene encoding RPTPβ/ζ (PTPRZ1) is genetically associated with schizophrenia. In this study, we examined the expression of RPTPβ/ζ in the brains of patients with schizophrenia and observed increased expression of this gene. We developed mice overexpressing RPTPβ/ζ (PTPRZ1-transgenic mice), which showed reduced NRG1 signaling, and molecular and cellular changes implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, including altered glutamatergic, GABAergic and dopaminergic activity, as well as delayed oligodendrocyte development. Behavioral analyses also demonstrated schizophrenia-like changes in the PTPRZ1-transgenic mice, including reduced sensory motor gating, hyperactivity and working memory deficits. Our results indicate that enhanced RPTPβ/ζ signaling can contribute to schizophrenia phenotypes, and support both construct and face validity for PTPRZ1-transgenic mice as a model for multiple schizophrenia phenotypes. Furthermore, our results implicate RPTPβ/ζ as a therapeutic target in schizophrenia

A physicochemical descriptor-based scoring scheme for effective and rapid filtering of kinase-like chemical space

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The current chemical space of known small molecules is estimated to exceed 10⁶⁰structures. Though the largest physical compound repositories contain only a few tens of millions of unique compounds, virtual screening of databases of this size is still difficult. In recent years, the application of physicochemical descriptor-based profiling, such as Lipinski's rule-of-five for drug-likeness and Oprea's criteria of lead-likeness, as early stage filters in drug discovery has gained widespread acceptance. In the current study, we outline a kinase-likeness scoring function based on known kinase inhibitors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The method employs a collection of 22,615 known kinase inhibitors from the ChEMBL database. A kinase-likeness score is computed using statistical analysis of nine key physicochemical descriptors for these inhibitors. Based on this score, the kinase-likeness of four publicly and commercially available databases, i.e., National Cancer Institute database (NCI), the Natural Products database (NPD), the National Institute of Health's Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository (MLSMR), and the World Drug Index (WDI) database, is analyzed. Three of these databases, i.e., NCI, NPD, and MLSMR are frequently used in the virtual screening of kinase inhibitors, while the fourth WDI database is for comparison since it covers a wide range of known chemical space. Based on the kinase-likeness score, a kinase-focused library is also developed and tested against three different kinase targets selected from three different branches of the human kinome tree.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our proposed methodology is one of the first that explores how the narrow chemical space of kinase inhibitors and its relevant physicochemical information can be utilized to build kinase-focused libraries and prioritize pre-existing compound databases for screening. We have shown that focused libraries generated by filtering compounds using the kinase-likeness score have, on average, better docking scores than an equivalent number of randomly selected compounds. Beyond library design, our findings also impact the broader efforts to identify kinase inhibitors by screening pre-existing compound libraries. Currently, the NCI library is the most commonly used database for screening kinase inhibitors. Our research suggests that other libraries, such as MLSMR, are more kinase-like and should be given priority in kinase screenings.</p

Microwave assisted, one-pot synthesis of 5-nitro- 2-aryl substituted-1H-benzimidazole libraries: screening in vitro for antimicrobial activity.

The efficient and rapid synthesis of 5-nitro-2-aryl substituted-1H-benzimidazole libraries (1a-1j) has been established. Thus, both microwave and conventional cyclo-condensation of 4-nitro ortho-phenylenediamine with various phenoxyacetic acids were carried out in the presence of HCl catalyst. The microwave synthesis route afforded advantages, such as good to excellent yields, shorter reaction time (2.5-3.5 min), readily available starting material, and simple purification procedure, which distinguish the present protocol from other existing methods used for the synthesis of benzimidazole libraries. Bioassay indicated that all the compounds showed in vitro antimicrobial activity against Vancomycin resistant enteroccoccus, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus, Bacillus subtilis (gram-positive bacteria) and Shigella dysentery, Escherichia coli (gram-negative bacteria) and Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium (fungi). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined for test compounds as well as for reference standards

A novel chromonyl thiohydantoin with anti-proliferative action on primary hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Chromone, imidazolidinedione, thiohydantoin and 2,4-thiazolidinedione structures are known to be cytotoxic to cancer cells. In this study, biological activities of previously synthesized 18 chromonyl-2,4-thiazolidinediones/imidazolidinediones/thiohydantoins were tested by sulforhodamine B assay in five liver and one breast cancer cell lines. It was shown that a hybrid chromonyl thiohydantoin derivative C9 was able to significantly suppress the proliferation of the liver cancer cell lines which are very resistant to anticancer drugs. According to 50% growth inhibition concentrations of C9, well differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma cell line Huh7 and breast adenocarcinoma cell line Mcf7 cells are found to be highly sensitive to C9 with IC50 values between 4.9-5.2 mu M. Poorly differentiated human liver cancer cell line Snu449 is found to be the most resistant to C9. Further studies show that C9 causes morphological changes in Snu449 cells. However, it does not induce significant senescence response or cell cycle arrest. On the other hand, Huh7 cells are found to be arrested in G2/M phase of the cell cycle after 24 and 72 h treatment. In conclusion, a novel chromonyl thiohydantoin hybrid molecule effectively stops or slows down the proliferation of well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma cells that exist in primary tumors