GnRH-gemcitabine conjugates for the treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer : pharmacokinetic enhancements combined with targeted drug delivery

Gemcitabine, a drug with established efficacy against a number of solid tumors, has therapeutic limitations due to its rapid metabolic inactivation. The aim of this study was the development of an innovative strategy to produce a metabolically stable analogue of gemcitabine that could also be selectively delivered to prostate cancer (CaP) cells based on cell surface expression of the Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone- Receptor (GnRH-R). The synthesis and evaluation of conjugated molecules, consisting of gemcitabine linked to a GnRH agonist, is presented along with results in androgen-independent prostate cancer models. NMR and ligand binding assays were employed to verify conservation of microenvironments responsible for binding of novel GnRH-gemcitabine conjugates to the GnRH-R. In vitro cytotoxicity, cellular uptake and metabolite formation of the conjugates were examined in CaP cell lines. Selected conjugates were efficacious in the in vitro assays with one of them, namely GSG, displaying high antiproliferative activity in CaP cell lines along with significant metabolic and pharmacokinetic advantages in comparison to gemcitabine. Finally, treatment of GnRH-R positive xenografted mice with GSG, showed a significant advantage in tumor growth inhibition when compared to gemcitabine.A.G.Leventis foundation and the General Secretariat for Research & Technology of the Greek Ministry of Education (LS7- 1682/17156/6.12.10).MRC and National Research Foundation of South Africa, and the Universities of Pretoria and Cape Townhttp://pubs.acs.org/bc2015-02-28hb201

Σχεδιασμός, σύνθεση και βιολογική αξιολόγηση βιοσυζυγών για την εκλεκτική απελευθέρωση φαρμάκου και στόχευση όγκων

Chemotherapy is still one of the primary modalities for the treatment of cancer. However, the application of free anticancer drugs has several drawbacks due to the high toxicity, the lack of selectivity and the low bioavailability. The main objective of the current PhD thesis was to improve the activity mainly of antiproliferative drugs but also of other drugs and bioactive compounds. To achieve this, two axes were followed:a) Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of bioconjugates for selective drug delivery and tumour targeting: Two antiproliferative drugs were studied gemcitabine and sunitinib. Selective drug delivery was achieved by the conjugation of these drugs to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) peptide in order to target the GnRH receptor, which is found to over express in different tumor cells. First the chemistry of drug-peptide conjugation was studied and more specific the oxime bonds, the carboxylic acid ester bonds and the carbamate bonds in chemical linkers. Then the biological evaluation of bioconjugates was tested in androgen-independent CaP cell lines followed by the pharmacokinetic study in mice. The results showed that the bioconjugates showed better anticancer activity or stability than the parent drugs. In this way, effective concentration of drugs at target can be achieved by selecting the linker with specific bonds according to required condition of particular drug.b) Molecular hybrids: In the synthesis of molecular hybrids, gemcitabine (anticancer) and quercetin (antioxidant/anticancer) were studied. The hybrid product of gemcitabine with lipoic acid (prooxidant) showed better anticancer and prooxidant activity than the parent compounds. About quercetin: Synthesis of the different hybrids for different purposes were presented. First, quercetin-aminoacids hybrids are useful for improving biological availability by improving aqueous solubility (quercetin-glutamic acid) of quercetin, which was the major cause of quercetin low bioavailability. Second, quercetin used for conjugation with the Losartan and Captopril drugs, which are used for antihypertension. As we know lowering blood pressure is the only treatment available for hypertensive patients, and therefore lowering blood pressure causes oxidative stress in vascular level in hypertension treatment. Therefore our molecular hybrid Quercetin-Losartan and Quercetin-Cprotpil will help to minimize hypertension as well as generated oxidative stress.Η χημειοθεραπεία αποτελεί ακόμα μία από τις κύριες μεθόδους αντιμετώπισης του καρκίνου. Ωστόσο η εφαρμογή των αντικαρκινικών φαρμάκων σε ελεύθερη μορφή έχει πολλά μειονεκτήματα λόγω, της υψηλής τοξικότητας, της έλλειψης επιλεκτικότητας και της χαμηλής βιοδιαθεσιμότητας των φαρμάκων αυτών. Ο κυρίως στόχος της παρούσας διατριβής ήταν η βελτίωση της δραστικότητας φαρμάκων (κυρίως αντικαρκινικών) καθώς και άλλων βιοδραστικών ενώσεων. Για το σκοπό αυτό ακολουθήθηκαν δύο άξονες: α) Σχεδιασμός, σύνθεση και βιολογική αξιολόγηση βιοσυζυγών για την εκλεκτική απελευθέρωση φαρμάκου και στόχευση όγκων. Μελετήθηκαν δύο ευρέως γνωστά αντικαρκινικά φάρμακα, η γεμσιταμπίνη και η σουνιτινίμπη. Η εκλεκτική απελευθέρωση αυτών των φαρμάκων επιτεύχθηκε με την σύζευξή τους σε γοναδοεκλυτίνη με στόχο τον μεμβρανικό υποδοχέα GnRH , ο οποίος υπερεκφράζεται σε πολλά είδη καρκινικών κυττάρων. Αρχικά, μελετήθηκε η χημεία σύζευξης φαρμάκου με πεπτίδιο όπου μελετήθηκαν δεσμοί όπως αυτός της οξίμης καθώς και εστερικοί δεσμοί τόσο καρβοξυλικού οξέος όσο και του καρβαμικού, ως χημικοί συνδέτες. Στη συνέχεια μελετήθηκε η βιολογική αξιολόγηση των βιοσυζυγών που συντέθηκαν σε ανδρογονοανεξάρτητες κυτταρικές σειρές CaP και ακολούθησε η φαρμακοκινητική μελέτη σε ποντίκια. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν ότι τα νέα βιοσυζυγή εμφάνισαν βελτιωμένη αντικαρκινική δράση ή σταθερότητα από τα μητρικά φάρμακα. β) Σχεδιασμός και σύνθεση υβριδικών ενώσεων, όπου μελετήθηκε η σύνθεση υβριδικών μορίων του αντικαρκινικού φαρμάκου γεμσιταμπίνη και του φυσικού αντιοξειδωτικού / αντικαρκινικού φλαβονοειδούς, κερσετίνη. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν ότι το υβριδικό μόριο της γεμσιταμπίνης με το φυσικό προοξειδωτικό λιποϊκό οξύ εμφάνισε καλύτερη αντικαρκινική και προοξειδωτική δράση από της πρόδρομες ενώσεις. Αναφορικά με την κερσετίνη, παρουσιάζεται η σύνθεση διαφορετικών υβριδίων για διαφορετικούς σκοπούς. Έτσι, τα υβριδικά μόρια της κερσετίνης με αμινοξέα είναι χρήσιμα για την βελτίωση της βιοδιαθεσιμότητας του φλαβονοειδούς βελτιώνοντας την υδατοδιαλυτότητά της (κερσετίνη-γλουταμινικό οξύ). Επιπλέον, καθώς το οξειδωτικό στρες συμβάλει στην υπέρταση και όπως γνωρίζουμε μελετήθηκε η σύνθεση υβριδικών μορίων του φυσικού αντιοξειδωτικού κερσετίνη με τα αντιυπερτασικά φάρμακα λοσαρτάνη και captopril. Ως εκ τούτου, τα μοριακά υβριδικά μόρια Κερσετίνη-Λοσαρτάνη και Κερσετίνη-Caprotpil πιστεύεται ότι θα βοηθήσουν στην μείωση της υπέρτασης, καθώς καταπολεμάται το οξειδωτικό στρες

Peptide-Drug conjugate gnrh-sunitinib targets angiogenesis selectively at the site of action to inhibit tumor growth

The potential to heighten the efficacy of antiangiogenic agents was explored in this study based on active targeting of tumor cells overexpressing the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRH-R). The rational design pursued focused on five analogues of a clinically established antiangiogenic compound (sunitinib), from which a lead candidate (SAN1) was conjugated to the targeting peptide [D-Lys6]-GnRH, generating SAN1GSC. Conjugation of SAN1 did not disrupt any of its antiangiogenic or cytotoxic properties in GnRH-R-expressing prostate and breast tumor cells. Daily SAN1GSC treatments in mouse xenograft models of castration-resistant prostate cancer resulted in significant tumor growth delay compared with equimolar SAN1 or sunitinib alone. This efficacy correlated with inhibited phosphor-ylation of AKT and S6, together with reduced Ki-67 and CD31 expression. The superior efficacy of the peptide-drug conjugate was also attributed to the finding that higher amounts of SAN1 were delivered to the tumor site (∼4-fold) following dosing of SAN1GSC compared with equimolar amounts of nonconjugated SAN1. Importantly, treatment with SAN1GSC was associated with minimal hematotoxicity and cardiotoxicity based on measurements of the left ventricular systolic function in treated mice. Our results offer preclinical proof-of-concept for SAN1GSC as a novel molecule that selectively reaches the tumor site and downregulates angiogenesis with negligible cardiotoxicity, thus encouraging its further clinical development and evaluation.</p

Phytochemical profile of Rosmarinus officinalis and Salvia officinalis extracts and correlation to their antioxidant and anti-proliferative activity

The goal of this study was to monitor the anti-proliferative activity of Rosmarinus officinalis and Salvia officinalis extracts against cancer cells and to correlate this activity with their phytochemical profiles using liquid chromatography/diode array detection/electrospray ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC/DAD/ESI-MSn). For the quantitative estimation of triterpenic acids in the crude extracts an NMR based methodology was used and compared with the HPLC measurements, both applied for the first time, for the case of betulinic acid. Both extracts exerted cytotoxic activity through dose-dependent impairment of viability and mitochondrial activity of rat insulinoma m5F (RINm5F) cells. Decrease of RINm5F viability was mediated by nitric oxide (NO)-induced apoptosis. Importantly, these extracts potentiated NO and TNF-alpha release from macrophages therefore enhancing their cytocidal action. The rosemary extract developed more pronounced antioxidant, cytotoxic and immunomodifying activities, probably due to the presence of betulinic acid and a higher concentration of carnosic acid in its phytochemical profile. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Esthir Gkani Foundation, (Ioannina, Greece); Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Serbia [173013

Ligand- and structure-based <i>in silico</i> studies to identify kinesin spindle protein (KSP) inhibitors as potential anticancer agents

<p>Kinesin spindle protein (KSP) belongs to the kinesin superfamily of microtubule-based motor proteins. KSP is responsible for the establishment of the bipolar mitotic spindle which mediates cell division. Inhibition of KSP expedites the blockade of the normal cell cycle during mitosis through the generation of monoastral MT arrays that finally cause apoptotic cell death. As KSP is highly expressed in proliferating/cancer cells, it has gained considerable attention as a potential drug target for cancer chemotherapy. Therefore, this study envisaged to design novel KSP inhibitors by employing computational techniques/tools such as pharmacophore modelling, virtual database screening, molecular docking and molecular dynamics. Initially, the pharmacophore models were generated from the data-set of highly potent KSP inhibitors and the pharmacophore models were validated against <i>in house</i> test set ligands. The validated pharmacophore model was then taken for database screening (Maybridge and ChemBridge) to yield hits, which were further filtered for their drug-likeliness. The potential hits retrieved from virtual database screening were docked using CDOCKER to identify the ligand binding landscape. The top-ranked hits obtained from molecular docking were progressed to molecular dynamics (AMBER) simulations to deduce the ligand binding affinity. This study identified MB-41570 and CB-10358 as potential hits and evaluated these experimentally using <i>in vitro</i> KSP ATPase inhibition assays.</p

GnRH-Gemcitabine Conjugates for the Treatment of Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer: Pharmacokinetic Enhancements Combined with Targeted Drug Delivery

Gemcitabine, a drug with established efficacy against a number of solid tumors, has therapeutic limitations due to its rapid metabolic inactivation. The aim of this study was the development of an innovative strategy to produce a metabolically stable analogue of gemcitabine that could also be selectively delivered to prostate cancer (CaP) cells based on cell surface expression of the Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone-Receptor (GnRH-R). The synthesis and evaluation of conjugated molecules, consisting of gemcitabine linked to a GnRH agonist, is presented along with results in androgen-independent prostate cancer models. NMR and ligand binding assays were employed to verify conservation of microenvironments responsible for binding of novel GnRH-gemcitabine conjugates to the GnRH-R. <i>In vitro</i> cytotoxicity, cellular uptake, and metabolite formation of the conjugates were examined in CaP cell lines. Selected conjugates were efficacious in the <i>in vitro</i> assays with one of them, namely, GSG, displaying high antiproliferative activity in CaP cell lines along with significant metabolic and pharmacokinetic advantages in comparison to gemcitabine. Finally, treatment of GnRH-R positive xenografted mice with GSG showed a significant advantage in tumor growth inhibition when compared to gemcitabine