scholarly journals Assessment of a New Nanostructured Microemulsion System for Ocular Delivery of Sorafenib to Posterior Segment of the Eye

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4404
Author(s):  
Manuela Santonocito ◽  
Cristina Zappulla ◽  
Santa Viola ◽  
Luca Rosario La Rosa ◽  
Elena Solfato ◽  
...  

Eye drop formulations allowing topical treatment of retinal pathologies have long been sought as alternatives to intravitreal administration. This study aimed to assess whether a novel nanostructured microemulsions system (NaMESys) could be usefully employed to deliver sorafenib to the retina following topical instillation. NaMESys carrying 0.3% sorafenib (NaMESys-SOR) proved to be cytocompatible in vitro on rabbit corneal cells, and well-tolerated following b.i.d. ocular administration to rabbits during a 3-month study. In rats subject to retinal ischemia-reperfusion, NaMESys-SOR significantly inhibited retinal expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα, 20.7%) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNos, 87.3%) mRNAs in comparison to controls. Similarly, in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, NaMESys-SOR inhibited retinal expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB), TNFα, insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF1), IGF1 receptor (IGF1R), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) and 2 (VEGFR2) mRNAs by three-fold on average compared to controls. Furthermore, a reduction in TNFα, VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 protein expression was observed by western blot. Moreover, in mice subject to laser-induced choroidal neovascularization, NaMESys-SOR significantly inhibited neovascular lesions by 54%. In conclusion, NaMESys-SOR was shown to be a well-tolerated ophthalmic formulation able to deliver effective amounts of sorafenib to the retina, reducing proinflammatory and pro-angiogenic mediators in reliable models of proliferative retinopathies. These findings warrant further investigations on the full therapeutic potential of NaMESys-SOR eye drops, aiming to address unmet needs in the pharmacotherapy of retinal neovascular diseases.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 1628-1639
Author(s):  
Sergi Gómez-Ganau ◽  
Josefa Castillo ◽  
Andrés Cervantes ◽  
Jesus Vicente de Julián-Ortiz ◽  
Rafael Gozalbes

Background: The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is a transmembrane protein that acts as a receptor of extracellular protein ligands of the epidermal growth factor (EGF/ErbB) family. It has been shown that EGFR is overexpressed by many tumours and correlates with poor prognosis. Therefore, EGFR can be considered as a very interesting therapeutic target for the treatment of a large variety of cancers such as lung, ovarian, endometrial, gastric, bladder and breast cancers, cervical adenocarcinoma, malignant melanoma and glioblastoma. Methods: We have followed a structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) procedure with a library composed of several commercial collections of chemicals (615,462 compounds in total) and the 3D structure of EGFR obtained from the Protein Data Bank (PDB code: 1M17). The docking results from this campaign were then ranked according to the theoretical binding affinity of these molecules to EGFR, and compared with the binding affinity of erlotinib, a well-known EGFR inhibitor. A total of 23 top-rated commercial compounds displaying potential binding affinities similar or even better than erlotinib were selected for experimental evaluation. In vitro assays in different cell lines were performed. A preliminary test was carried out with a simple and standard quick cell proliferation assay kit, and six compounds showed significant activity when compared to positive control. Then, viability and cell proliferation of these compounds were further tested using a protocol based on propidium iodide (PI) and flow cytometry in HCT116, Caco-2 and H358 cell lines. Results: The whole six compounds displayed good effects when compared with erlotinib at 30 μM. When reducing the concentration to 10μM, the activity of the 6 compounds depends on the cell line used: the six compounds showed inhibitory activity with HCT116, two compounds showed inhibition with Caco-2, and three compounds showed inhibitory effects with H358. At 2 μM, one compound showed inhibiting effects close to those from erlotinib. Conclusion: Therefore, these compounds could be considered as potential primary hits, acting as promising starting points to expand the therapeutic options against a wide range of cancers.


1997 ◽  
Vol 272 (2) ◽  
pp. F222-F228
Author(s):  
C. Kjelsberg ◽  
H. Sakurai ◽  
K. Spokes ◽  
C. Birchmeier ◽  
I. Drummond ◽  
...  

The growth factor/receptor combination of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/c-met has been postulated to be critical for mesenchymal-to-epithelial conversion and tubule formation in the developing kidney. We therefore isolated and immortalized cells from embryonic kidneys of met -/- transgenic mice to determine whether these cells were epithelial and able to chemotax and form tubules in vitro. The cells were immortalized with retrovirus expressing human papillomavirus 16 (HPV 16) E6/E7 genes. Two rapidly dividing clones were isolated and found to express the epithelial cell markers cytokeratin, zonula occludens-1, and E-cadherin but not to express the fibroblast marker vimentin. The met -/- cells were able to chemotax in response to epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) and form tubules in vitro in response to TGF-alpha but not HGF. These experiments suggest that the HGF/c-met axis is not essential for epithelial cell development in the embryonic kidney and demonstrate that other growth factors are capable of supporting early tubulogenesis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 7774
Author(s):  
Sevil Korkmaz-Icöz ◽  
Cenk Kocer ◽  
Alex A. Sayour ◽  
Patricia Kraft ◽  
Mona I. Benker ◽  
...  

Vascular ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) contributes to graft failure and adverse clinical outcomes following coronary artery bypass grafting. Sodium-glucose-cotransporter (SGLT)-2-inhibitors have been shown to protect against myocardial IRI, irrespective of diabetes. We hypothesized that adding canagliflozin (CANA) (an SGLT-2-inhibitor) to saline protects vascular grafts from IRI. Aortic rings from non-diabetic rats were isolated and immediately mounted in organ bath chambers (control, n = 9–10 rats) or underwent cold ischemic preservation in saline, supplemented either with a DMSO vehicle (IR, n = 8–10 rats) or 50µM CANA (IR + CANA, n = 9–11 rats). Vascular function was measured, the expression of 88 genes using PCR-array was analyzed, and feature selection using machine learning was applied. Impaired maximal vasorelaxation to acetylcholine in the IR-group compared to controls was significantly ameliorated by CANA (IR 31.7 ± 3.2% vs. IR + CANA 51.9 ± 2.5%, p < 0.05). IR altered the expression of 17 genes. Ccl2, Ccl3, Ccl4, CxCr4, Fos, Icam1, Il10, Il1a and Il1b have been found to have the highest interaction. Compared to controls, IR significantly upregulated the mRNA expressions of Il1a and Il6, which were reduced by 1.5- and 1.75-fold with CANA, respectively. CANA significantly prevented the upregulation of Cd40, downregulated NoxO1 gene expression, decreased ICAM-1 and nitrotyrosine, and increased PECAM-1 immunoreactivity. CANA alleviates endothelial dysfunction following IRI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingwu Deng ◽  
Xiangsheng Wang ◽  
Ziyou Yu ◽  
Yizuo Cai ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Tissue expansion techniques play an important role in plastic surgery. How to improve the quality of the expanded skin and shorten the expansion period are still worth investigating. Our previous studies found that a cell-free fat extract (CEFFE) possessed pro-angiogenic and pro-proliferative activities. However, the role of CEFFE on tissue expansion has remained unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of CEFFE on tissue expansion. Methods A rat tissue expansion model was used. Animals were treated with CEFFE by subcutaneous injection. After 4 weeks of tissue expansion, the skin necrosis and retraction rates were evaluated, the thicknesses of the epidermis and dermis were determined by histological analyses, blood vessel density was measured by anti-CD31 staining, cell proliferation was assessed by proliferating cell nuclear antigen staining, and the expression of specific proteins was evaluated by western blot analyses. In addition, the effects of CEFFE on the proliferation and cell cycle of cultured HaCaT cells were evaluated in vitro. Results CEFFE treatment significantly decreased the necrosis rate and retraction of the expanded skin. The thickness of the epidermal and dermal layers was higher in CEFFE-treated compared to untreated skin. The density of blood vessels and cell proliferation in the epidermis of the expanded skin was improved by CEFFE treatment. In addition, CEFFE treatment significantly increased the expression of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor, collagen type 1, and collagen type 3. CEFFE also increased the proliferation of HaCaT cells in culture. Conclusions CEFFE improves the quality of the expanded skin by promoting angiogenesis and cell proliferation. It could be potentially used clinically for augmenting tissue expansion.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhuvanesh Dave ◽  
Ilenia Migliaccio ◽  
M. Carolina Gutierrez ◽  
Meng-Fen Wu ◽  
Gary C. Chamness ◽  
...  

Purpose Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) loss or activating mutations of phosphoinositol-3 (PI3) kinase (PIK3CA) may be associated with trastuzumab resistance. Trastuzumab, the humanized human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) monoclonal antibody, and lapatinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor/HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, are both established treatments for HER2-overexpressing breast cancers. Understanding of the cellular response to HER2-targeted therapies is needed to tailor treatments and to identify patients less likely to benefit. Methods We evaluated the effect of trastuzumab or lapatinib in three HER2-overexpressing cell lines. We confirmed the in vitro observations in two neoadjuvant clinical trials in patients with HER2 overexpression; 35 patients received trastuzumab as a single agent for the first 3 weeks, then docetaxel every 3 weeks for 12 weeks (trastuzumab regimen), whereas 49 patients received lapatinib as a single agent for 6 weeks, followed by trastuzumab/docetaxel for 12 weeks before primary surgery (lapatinib regimen). Apoptosis, Ki67, p-MAPK, p-AKT, and PTEN were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Genomic DNA was sequenced for PIK3CA mutations. Results Under low PTEN conditions, in vitro data indicate that lapatinib alone and in combination with trastuzumab was effective in decreasing p-MAPK and p-AKT levels, whereas trastuzumab was ineffective. In the clinical trials, we confirmed that low PTEN or activating mutation in PIK3CA conferred resistance to the trastuzumab regimen (P = .015), whereas low PTEN tumors were associated with a high pathologic complete response rate (P = .007). Conclusion Activation of PI3 kinase pathway is associated with trastuzumab resistance, whereas low PTEN predicted for response to lapatinib. These observations support clinical trials with the combination of both agents.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1575-1581
Author(s):  
G J Pronk ◽  
A M de Vries-Smits ◽  
L Buday ◽  
J Downward ◽  
J A Maassen ◽  
...  

Shc proteins are phosphorylated on tyrosine residues and associate with growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 (Grb2) upon treatment of cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF) or insulin. We have studied the role of Shc in insulin- and EGF-induced activation of p21ras in NIH 3T3 cells overexpressing human insulin receptors (A14 cells). A14 cells are equally responsive to insulin and EGF with respect to activation of p21ras. Analysis of Shc immunoprecipitates revealed that (i) both insulin and EGF treatment resulted in Shc tyrosine phosphorylation and (ii) Shc antibodies coimmunoprecipitated both Grb2 and mSOS after insulin and EGF treatment. The induction of tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and the presence of Grb2 and mSOS in Shc immunoprecipitates followed similar time courses, with somewhat higher levels after EGF treatment. In mSOS immunoprecipitates, Shc could be detected as well. Furthermore, Shc immune complexes contained guanine nucleotide exchange activity toward p21ras in vitro. From these results, we conclude that after insulin and EGF treatment, Shc associates with both Grb2 and mSOS and therefore may mediate, at least in part, insulin- and EGF-induced activation of p21ras. In addition, we investigated whether the Grb2-mSOS complex associates with the insulin receptor or with insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1). Although we observed association of Grb2 with IRS1, we did not detect complex formation between mSOS and IRS1 in experiments in which the association of mSOS with Shc was readily detectable. Furthermore, whereas EGF treatment resulted in the association of mSOS with the EGF receptor, insulin treatment did not result in the association of mSOS with the insulin receptor. These results indicate that the association of Grb2-nSOS with Shc may be an important event in insulin-induced, mSOS-mediated activation of p21ras.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juxuan Ruan ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Jiheng Dai ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
...  

Objective: Angiogenesis led by brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) contributes to the remission of brain injury after brain ischemia reperfusion. In this study, we investigated the effects of hydroxysafflor yellow A(HSYA) on angiogenesis of BMECs injured by OGD/R via SIRT1-HIF-1α-VEGFA signaling pathway. Methods: The OGD/R model of BMECs was established in vitro by OGD for 2h and reoxygenation for 24h. At first, the concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Angiopoietin (ang) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) in supernatant were detected by ELISA, and the proteins expression of VEGFA, Ang-2 and PDGFB in BMECs were tested by western blot; the proliferation, adhesion, migration (scratch healing and transwell) and tube formation experiment of BMECs; the expression of CD31 and CD34 were tested by immunofluorescence staining. The levels of sirtuin1(SIRT1), hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), VEGFA mRNA and protein were tested. Results: HSYA up-regulated the levels of VEGF, Ang and PDGF in the supernatant of BMECs under OGD/R, and the protein expression of VEGFA, Ang-2 and PDGFB were increased; HSYA could significantly alleviate the decrease of cell proliferation, adhesion, migration and tube formation ability of BMECs during OGD/R; HSYA enhanced the fluorescence intensity of CD31 and CD34 of BMECs during OGD/R; HSYA remarkably up-regulated the expression of SIRT1, HIF-1α, VEGFA mRNA and protein after OGD/R, and these increase decreased after SIRT1 was inhibited. Conclusion: SIRT1-HIF-1α-VEGFA signaling pathway is involved in HSYA improves angiogenesis of BMECs injured by OGD/R.


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