Discovery of Novel Reductive Elimination Pathway for 10-Hydroxywarfarin

Coumadin (R/S-warfarin) anticoagulant therapy is highly efficacious in preventing the formation of blood clots; however, significant inter-individual variations in response risks over or under dosing resulting in adverse bleeding events or ineffective therapy, respectively. Levels of pharmacologically active forms of the drug and metabolites depend on a diversity of metabolic pathways. Cytochromes P450 play a major role in oxidizing R- and S-warfarin to 6-, 7-, 8-, 10-, and 4′-hydroxywarfarin, and warfarin alcohols form through a minor metabolic pathway involving reduction at the C11 position. We hypothesized that due to structural similarities with warfarin, hydroxywarfarins undergo reduction, possibly impacting their pharmacological activity and elimination. We modeled reduction reactions and carried out experimental steady-state reactions with human liver cytosol for conversion of rac-6-, 7-, 8-, 4′-hydroxywarfarin and 10-hydroxywarfarin isomers to the corresponding alcohols. The modeling correctly predicted the more efficient reduction of 10-hydroxywarfarin over warfarin but not the order of the remaining hydroxywarfarins. Experimental studies did not indicate any clear trends in the reduction for rac-hydroxywarfarins or 10-hydroxywarfarin into alcohol 1 and 2. The collective findings indicated the location of the hydroxyl group significantly impacted reduction selectivity among the hydroxywarfarins, as well as the specificity for the resulting metabolites. Based on studies with R- and S-7-hydroxywarfarin, we predicted that all hydroxywarfarin reductions are enantioselective toward R substrates and enantiospecific for S alcohol metabolites. CBR1 and to a lesser extent AKR1C3 reductases are responsible for those reactions. Due to the inefficiency of reactions, only reduction of 10-hydroxywarfarin is likely to be important in clearance of the metabolite. This pathway for 10-hydroxywarfarin may have clinical relevance as well given its anticoagulant activity and capacity to inhibit S-warfarin metabolism.

Personalized pharmacotherapy of arterial hypertension patients with musculoskeletal system diseases based on pharmacogenetic aspects

Pharmacotherapy in patients with comorbidity is a current issue for clinical practice. Combination of hypertension and musculoskeletal diseases can be found in 40% of outpatients, which requires simultaneous administration of different drugs. The main mechanisms of drug interactions are associated with pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics alterations. It has been proven that changes in drugs pharmacokinetics can be due to cytochromes P450 activity. The main symptom of musculoskeletal diseases is chronic pain, which requires long-term therapy with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The 2C19 isoenzyme takes part in metabolism of some NSAIDs. Losartan, the inhibitor of renin-angiotensinaldosterone system (RAAS), is also metabolized by the 2C9 isoenzyme and is quite often prescribed to outpatients to treat hypertension. Hence, an influence of genetic factors on efficacy and safety of antihypertensive drugs and NSAIDs combinations requires further studies.

Synthesis of new thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives and in silico analysis of their bioactivity

An effective method of synthesis thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives was developed and the compounds with n-pentyl or β-acetoxycyclopropyl as well as fluorescent benzo[f]coumarin substituents were obtained with yields 60 % and more. Using computational (in silico) approaches we demonstrated the ability of the obtained compounds to permeate lipid bilayer as well as their affinity to some protein kinases (compounds 4 and 6 bind with a protein kinase AKT1 with PDB code 3о96; Autodock Vina-computed energy of binding (Ebind) values were -10.9 and -10.6 kcal/mol, respectively), acethylcholine esterase and some human cytochromes P450 (for P450 3A4, pdb 5vcd, Ebind -12.3 kcal/mol).

Interconnection of phospholipolysis and monooxygenase catalysis

A review of the main experimental results in the field of studying the interaction in vivo and in vitro of enzyme systems responsible for the metabolism of arachidonic acid is presented. Metabolic events from its release from phospholipids (phospholipase A2) to its transformation (cytochromes P450) into the most important intracellular messengers of external signal transmission to the internal “language of the cell” are discussed.

Evaluation of P450 monooxygenase activity in lyophilized recombinant E. coli cells compared to resting cells

Cytochromes P450 catalyze oxidation of chemically diverse compounds and thus offer great potential for biocatalysis. Due to the complexity of these enzymes, their dependency of nicotinamide cofactors and redox partner proteins, recombinant microbial whole cells appear most appropriate for effective P450-mediated biocatalysis. However, some drawbacks exist that require individual solutions also when P450 whole-cell catalysts are used. Herein, we compared wet resting cells and lyophilized cells of recombinant E. coli regarding P450-catalyzed oxidation and found out that lyophilized cells are well-appropriate as P450-biocatalysts. E. coli harboring CYP105D from Streptomyces platensis DSM 40041 was used as model enzyme and testosterone as model substrate. Conversion was first enhanced by optimized handling of resting cells. Co-expression of the alcohol dehydrogenase from Rhodococcus erythropolis for cofactor regeneration did not affect P450 activity of wet resting cells (46% conversion) but was crucial to obtain sufficient P450 activity with lyophilized cells reaching a conversion of 72% under the same conditions. The use of recombinant lyophilized E. coli cells for P450 mediated oxidations is a promising starting point towards broader application of these enzymes.