Development of a dimer-based screening system for dimerization inhibitor of HIV-1 protease

An in vitro dimer-based screening system (DBSS) for selecting new HIV-1 protease dimerization inhibitor candidates from natural compounds had been established. This system utilizes a fusion between HIV-1 protease and dimer binding domain of AraC protein (proteaseHIV1-AraCDBD) where fluorescence signal will be emitted in the presence of HIV-1 protease inhibitor. However, this screening system had not been evaluated. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate it in recombinant Escherichia coli culture. The expression of proteaseHIV1-AraCDBD fusion gene was observed for 18 hours. Its crude lysate isolation was done once every 3 hours and analyzed using SDS PAGE. To test the DBSS, darunavir was used as positive control, and Nigella sativa extract (JH3) was used as the test compound. The results of SDS PAGE analysis on crude lysates presented a ~24.2 kDa band, which was the predicted size of the proteaseHIV1-AraCDBD fusion protein based on its amino acid sequence. The growth curve and protein expression profiles revealed that the 15 hours was the optimum culture age to be used in the screening system. Darunavir testing in DBSS showed an increase in fluorescence signal compared to the negative control. The same increase in fluorescence signal was also obtained from the JH3 compound test. In conclusion, DBSS could be used as an assay to screen for new HIV-1 protease inhibitors, and the JH3 compound demonstrated the ability to inhibit HIV-1 protease dimerization.

Total synthesis of lindbladione, a Hes1 dimerization inhibitor and neural stem cell activator isolated from Lindbladia tubulina

Lindbladione (1) is a neural stem cell differentiation activator isolated from Lindbladia tubulina by our group. Hes1 dimerization inhibitory activity of lindbladione (1) was discovered using our original fluorescent Hes1 dimer microplate assay. We also found that lindbladione (1) accelerates the differentiation of neural stem cells. We conducted the first total synthesis of lindbladione (1) via Heck reaction of 1-hexene-3-one 7 with iodinated naphthoquinone 12, which was provided by Friedel–Crafts acylation followed by Claisen condensation, in the presence of Pd (II) acetate. Careful deprotection of the benzyl groups of 13 successively provided lindbladione (1). Synthesized lindbladione (1) exhibited potent Hes1 dimer inhibition (IC50 of 2.7 μM) in our previously developed fluorescent Hes1 dimer microplate assay. Synthesized lindbladione (1) also accelerated the differentiation of C17.2 mouse neural stem cells into neurons dose dependently, increasing the number of neurons by 59% (2.5 μM) and 112% (10 μM) compared to the control. These activities are comparable to those of naturally occurring lindbladione (1) isolated from L. tublina.

Embryonic Program Activated during Blast Crisis of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) Implicates a TCF7L2 and MYC Cooperative Chromatin Binding

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by an inherent genetic instability, which contributes to the progression of the disease towards an accelerated phase (AP) and blast crisis (BC). Several cytogenetic and genomic alterations have been reported in the progression towards BC, but the precise molecular mechanisms of this event are undetermined. Transcription Factor 7 like 2 (TFC7L2) is a member of the TCF family of proteins that are known to activate WNT target genes such as Cyclin D1. TCF7L2 has been shown to be overexpressed in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and represents a druggable target. We report here that TCF7L2 transcription factor expression was found to be correlated to blast cell numbers during the progression of the disease. In these cells, TCF7L2 CHIP-sequencing highlighted distal cis active enhancer, such as elements in SMAD3, ATF5, and PRMT1 genomic regions and a proximal active transcriptional program of 144 genes. The analysis of CHIP-sequencing of MYC revealed a significant overlapping of TCF7L2 epigenetic program with MYC. The β-catenin activator lithium chloride and the MYC-MAX dimerization inhibitor 10058-F4 significantly modified the expression of three epigenetic targets in the BC cell line K562. These results suggest for the first time the cooperative role of TCF7L2 and MYC during CML-BC and they strengthen previous data showing a possible involvement of embryonic genes in this process.

Development of an HPLC-UV Method for Quantification of Stattic

Background: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), an oncogenic protein found constitutively active in many types of human malignancies, is considered to be a promising target for cancer therapy. Objective: In this study for the first time, a simple and accurate method has been developed for the determination of a STAT3 dimerization inhibitor called stattic in aqueous and plasma samples. Methods: A reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) composed of C18 column as stationary phase, and the mixture of acetonitrile (60%) and water (40%) as mobile phase with a UV detection at 215 nm were applied for quantification of stattic. The developed method was validated by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guideline. Results: The method provided a linear range between 1-40 and 2.5-40 µg mL-1 for aqueous and plasma samples, respectively, with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The accuracy (as recovery) of the developed method was found to be between 95-105% for aqueous medium and 85-115% for plasma samples. The precision (as relative standard deviation) for aqueous and plasma samples was less than 6% and 15%, respectively. The sensitivity of the developed method based on FDA guideline was 1 µg mL-1 for aqueous and 2.5 µg mL-1 for plasma samples. Conclusion: These results show that the established method is a fast and accurate quantification for stattic in aqueous and plasma samples.