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    Synthesis, in Vitro Profiling, and in Vivo Evaluation of Benzohomoadamantane-Based Ureas for Visceral Pain: A New Indication for Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibitors
    (Washington, DC : ACS, 2022) Codony, Sandra; Entrena, JosĂ© M.; CalvĂ³-Tusell, Carla; Jora, Beatrice; GonzĂ¡lez-Cano, Rafael; Osuna, SĂ­lvia; Corpas, RubĂ©n; Morisseau, Christophe; PĂ©rez, BelĂ©n; Barniol-Xicota, Marta; GriĂ±Ă¡n-FerrĂ©, Christian; PĂ©rez, ConcepciĂ³n; RodrĂ­guez-Franco, MarĂ­a Isabel; MartĂ­nez, AntĂ³n L.; Loza, M. Isabel; PallĂ s, Mercè; Verhelst, Steven H. L.; Sanfeliu, Coral; Feixas, Ferran; Hammock, Bruce D.; Brea, JosĂ©; Cobos, Enrique J.; VĂ¡zquez, Santiago
    The soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) has been suggested as a pharmacological target for the treatment of several diseases, including pain-related disorders. Herein, we report further medicinal chemistry around new benzohomoadamantane-based sEH inhibitors (sEHI) in order to improve the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics properties of a previous hit. After an extensive in vitro screening cascade, molecular modeling, and in vivo pharmacokinetics studies, two candidates were evaluated in vivo in a murine model of capsaicin-induced allodynia. The two compounds showed an anti-allodynic effect in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, the most potent compound presented robust analgesic efficacy in the cyclophosphamide-induced murine model of cystitis, a well-established model of visceral pain. Overall, these results suggest painful bladder syndrome as a new possible indication for sEHI, opening a new range of applications for them in the visceral pain field.
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    Multi-capillary column-ion mobility spectrometry (MCC-IMS) as a new method for the quantification of occupational exposure to sevoflurane in anaesthesia workplaces: an observational feasibility study
    (London : BioMed Central, 2015) Kunze, Nils; Weigel, Cathrin; Vautz, Wolfgang; Schwerdtfeger, Katrin; JĂ¼nger, Melanie; Quintel, Michael; Perl, Thorsten
    Background: Occupational exposure to sevoflurane has the potential to cause health damage in hospital personnel. Workplace contamination with the substance mostly is assessed by using photoacoustic infrared spectrometry with detection limits of 10 ppbv. Multi-capillary column-ion mobility spectrometry (MCC-IMS) could be an alternative technology for the quantification of sevoflurane in the room air and could be even more accurate because of potentially lower detection limits. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that MCC-IMS is able to detect and monitor very low concentrations of sevoflurane (<10 ppbv) and to evaluate the exposure of hospital personnel to sevoflurane during paediatric anaesthesia and in the post anaesthesia care unit (PACU). Methods: A MCC-IMS device was calibrated to several concentrations of sevoflurane and limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were calculated. Sevoflurane exposure of hospital personnel was measured at two anaesthesia workplaces and time-weighted average (TWA) values were calculated. Results: The LOD was 0.0068 ppbv and the LOQ was 0.0189 ppbv. During paediatric anaesthesia the mean sevoflurane concentration was 46.9 ppbv (8.0 - 314.7 ppbv) with TWA values between 5.8 and 45.7 ppbv. In the PACU the mean sevoflurane concentration was 27.9 ppbv (8.0 – 170.2 ppbv) and TWA values reached from 8.3 to 45.1 ppbv. Conclusions: MCC-IMS shows a significantly lower LOD and LOQ than comparable methods. It is a reliable technology for monitoring sevoflurane concentrations at anaesthesia workplaces and has a particular strength in quantifying low-level contaminations of sevoflurane. The exposure of the personnel working in these areas did not exceed recommended limits and therefore adverse health effects are unlikely.
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    Using SRM-MS to quantify nuclear protein abundance differences between adipose tissue depots of insulin-resistant mice
    (Rockville : American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2015) Ota, Asuka; Kovary, Kyle M.; Wu, Olivia H.; Ahrends, Robert; Shen, Wen-Jun; Costa, Maria J.; Feldman, Brian J.; Kraemer, Fredric B.; Teruel, Mary N.
    Insulin resistance (IR) underlies metabolic disease. Visceral, but not subcutaneous, white adipose tissue (WAT) has been linked to the development of IR, potentially due to differences in regulatory protein abundance. Here we investigate how protein levels are changed in IR in different WAT depots by developing a targeted proteomics approach to quantitatively compare the abundance of 42 nuclear proteins in subcutaneous and visceral WAT from a commonly used insulin-resistant mouse model, Lepr(db/db), and from C57BL/6J control mice. The most differentially expressed proteins were important in adipogenesis, as confirmed by siRNA-mediated depletion experiments, suggesting a defect in adipogenesis in visceral, but not subcutaneous, insulin-resistant WAT. Furthermore, differentiation of visceral, but not subcutaneous, insulin-resistant stromal vascular cells (SVCs) was impaired. In an in vitro approach to understand the cause of this impaired differentiation, we compared insulin-resistant visceral SVCs to preadipocyte cell culture models made insulin resistant by different stimuli. The insulin-resistant visceral SVC protein abundance profile correlated most with preadipocyte cell culture cells treated with both palmitate and TNFα. Together, our study introduces a method to simultaneously measure and quantitatively compare nuclear protein expression patterns in primary adipose tissue and adipocyte cell cultures, which we show can reveal relationships between differentiation and disease states of different adipocyte tissue types.
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    In vitro effect of Withania somnifera, AYUSH-64, and remdesivir on the activity of CYP-450 enzymes: Implications for possible herb−drug interactions in the management of COVID-19
    (Lausanne : Frontiers Media, 2022) Kasarla, Siva Swapna; Borse, Swapnil P.; Kumar, Yashwant; Sharma, Neha; Dikshit, Madhu
    Ayurvedic medicines Withania somnifera Dunal (ashwagandha) and AYUSH-64 have been used for the prevention and management of COVID-19 in India. The present study explores the effect of Ashwagandha and AYUSH-64 on important human CYP enzymes (CYP3A4, CYP2C8, and CYP2D6) to assess their interaction with remdesivir, a drug used for COVID-19 management during the second wave. The study also implies possible herb−drug interactions as ashwagandha and AYUSH-64 are being used for managing various pathological conditions. Aqueous extracts of ashwagandha and AYUSH-64 were characterized using LC-MS/MS. A total of 11 and 24 phytoconstituents were identified putatively from ashwagandha and AYUSH-64 extracts, respectively. In addition, in silico studies revealed good ADME properties of most of the phytoconstituents of these herbal drugs and suggested that some of these might possess CYP-450 inhibitory activity. In vitro CYP-450 studies with human liver microsomes showed moderate inhibition of CYP3A4, 2C8, and 2D6 by remdesivir, while ashwagandha had no inhibitory effect alone or in combination with remdesivir. AYUSH-64 also exhibited a similar trend; however, a moderate inhibitory effect on CYP2C8 was noticed. Thus, ashwagandha seems to be safe to co-administer with the substrates of CYP3A4, CYP2C8, and CYP2D6. However, caution is warranted in prescribing AYUSH-64 along with CYP2C8 substrate drugs. Furthermore, preclinical and clinical PK studies would be helpful for their effective and safer use in the management of various ailments along with other drugs.
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    Proteome analyses of hepatocellular carcinoma
    (Sugar Land, TX : Xia & He Publishing, 2014) Megger, Dominik A.; Naboulsi, Naboulsi; Meyer, Helmut E.; Sitek, Barbara
    Proteomics has evolved into a powerful and widely used bioanalytical technique in the study of cancer, especially hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this review, we provide an up to date overview of feasible proteome-analytical techniques for clinical questions. In addition, we present a broad summary of proteomic studies of HCC utilizing various technical approaches for the analysis of samples derived from diverse sources like HCC cell lines, animal models, human tissue and body fluids.
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    Identification of Eps15 as antigen recognized by the monoclonal antibodies aa2 and ab52 of the wuerzburg hybridoma library against Drosophila brain
    (San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science, 2011) Halder, Partho; Chen, Yi-chun; Brauckhoff, Janine; Hofbauer, Alois; Dabauvalle, Marie-Christine; Lewandrowski, Urs; Winkler, Christiane; Sickmann, Albert; Buchner, Erich
    The Wuerzburg Hybridoma Library against the Drosophila brain represents a collection of around 200 monoclonal antibodies that bind to specific structures in the Drosophila brain. Here we describe the immunohistochemical staining patterns, the Western blot signals of one- and two-dimensional electrophoretic separation, and the mass spectrometric characterization of the target protein candidates recognized by the monoclonal antibodies aa2 and ab52 from the library. Analysis of a mutant of a candidate gene identified the Drosophila homolog of the Epidermal growth factor receptor Pathway Substrate clone 15 (Eps15) as the antigen for these two antibodies.
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    Biological pathways modulated by antipsychotics in the blood plasma of schizophrenia patients and their association to a clinical response
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2015) Martins-de-Souza, Daniel; Solari, Fiorella A.; Guest, Paul C.; Zahedi, René P.; Steiner, Johann
    Proteomics is a valuable tool to unravel molecular mechanisms involved in human disorders. Considering the mediocre effectiveness of antipsychotics, which are the main class of drug used to treat schizophrenia, we analyzed a cohort of 58 schizophrenia patients who had blood collected before and after 6 weeks of antipsychotic treatment using a shotgun mass spectrometry proteomic profiling approach. Our aim was to unravel molecular pathways involved with an effective drug response. The results showed that all patients had essentially the same biochemical pathways triggered Independent of the antipsychotic response outcome. However, we observed that these pathways were regulated in different directions in blood samples from those who responded well to antipsychotics, compared with those who had a poorer outcome. These data are novel, timely and may help to guide new research efforts in the design of new treatments or medications for schizophrenia based on biologically relevant pathways.
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    The proteome of human liver peroxisomes: Identification of five new peroxisomal constituents by a label-free quantitative proteomics survey
    (San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science, 2013) Gronemeyer, Thomas; Wiese, Sebastian; Ofman, Rob; Bunse, Christian; Pawlas, Magdalena; Hayen, Heiko; Eisenacher, Martin; Stephan, Christian; Meyer, Helmut E.; Waterham, Hans R.; Erdmann, Ralf; Wanders, Ronald J.; Warscheid, Bettina
    The peroxisome is a key organelle of low abundance that fulfils various functions essential for human cell metabolism. Severe genetic diseases in humans are caused by defects in peroxisome biogenesis or deficiencies in the function of single peroxisomal proteins. To improve our knowledge of this important cellular structure, we studied for the first time human liver peroxisomes by quantitative proteomics. Peroxisomes were isolated by differential and Nycodenz density gradient centrifugation. A label-free quantitative study of 314 proteins across the density gradient was accomplished using high resolution mass spectrometry. By pairing statistical data evaluation, cDNA cloning and in vivo colocalization studies, we report the association of five new proteins with human liver peroxisomes. Among these, isochorismatase domain containing 1 protein points to the existence of a new metabolic pathway and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase like 2 protein is likely involved in the transport or b-oxidation of fatty acids in human peroxisomes. The detection of alcohol dehydrogenase 1A suggests the presence of an alternative alcohol-oxidizing system in hepatic peroxisomes. In addition, lactate dehydrogenase A and malate dehydrogenase 1 partially associate with human liver peroxisomes and enzyme activity profiles support the idea that NAD+ becomes regenerated during fatty acid b-oxidation by alternative shuttling processes in human peroxisomes involving lactate dehydrogenase and/or malate dehydrogenase. Taken together, our data represent a valuable resource for future studies of peroxisome biochemistry that will advance research of human peroxisomes in health and disease.
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    The human TRPA1 intrinsic cold and heat sensitivity involves separate channel structures beyond the N-ARD domain
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2022) Moparthi, Lavanya; Sinica, Viktor; Moparthi, Vamsi K.; Kreir, Mohamed; Vignane, Thibaut; Filipovic, Milos R.; Vlachova, Viktorie; Zygmunt, Peter M.
    TRP channels sense temperatures ranging from noxious cold to noxious heat. Whether specialized TRP thermosensor modules exist and how they control channel pore gating is unknown. We studied purified human TRPA1 (hTRPA1) truncated proteins to gain insight into the temperature gating of hTRPA1. In patch-clamp bilayer recordings, ∆1–688 hTRPA1, without the N-terminal ankyrin repeat domain (N-ARD), was more sensitive to cold and heat, whereas ∆1–854 hTRPA1, also lacking the S1–S4 voltage sensing-like domain (VSLD), gained sensitivity to cold but lost its heat sensitivity. In hTRPA1 intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence studies, cold and heat evoked rearrangement of VSLD and the C-terminus domain distal to the transmembrane pore domain S5–S6 (CTD). In whole-cell electrophysiology experiments, replacement of the CTD located cysteines 1021 and 1025 with alanine modulated hTRPA1 cold responses. It is proposed that hTRPA1 CTD harbors cold and heat sensitive domains allosterically coupled to the S5–S6 pore region and the VSLD, respectively.
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    Inhibiting the glycerophosphodiesterase EDI3 in ER-HER2+ breast cancer cells resistant to HER2-targeted therapy reduces viability and tumour growth
    (Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer, 2023) Keller, Magdalena; Rohlf, Katharina; Glotzbach, Annika; Leonhardt, Gregor; LĂ¼ke, Simon; Derksen, Katharina; Demirci, Ă–zlem; Göçener, Defne; AlWahsh, Mohammad; Lambert, Jörg; Lindskog, Cecilia; Schmidt, Marcus; Brenner, Walburgis; Baumann, Matthias; Zent, Eldar; Zischinsky, Mia-Lisa; Hellwig, Birte; Madjar, Katrin; RahnenfĂ¼hrer, Jörg; Overbeck, Nina; Reinders, Jörg; Cadenas, Cristina; Hengstler, Jan G.; Edlund, Karolina; Marchan, Rosemarie
    Background: Intrinsic or acquired resistance to HER2-targeted therapy is often a problem when small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors or antibodies are used to treat patients with HER2 positive breast cancer. Therefore, the identification of new targets and therapies for this patient group is warranted. Activated choline metabolism, characterized by elevated levels of choline-containing compounds, has been previously reported in breast cancer. The glycerophosphodiesterase EDI3 (GPCPD1), which hydrolyses glycerophosphocholine to choline and glycerol-3-phosphate, directly influences choline and phospholipid metabolism, and has been linked to cancer-relevant phenotypes in vitro. While the importance of choline metabolism has been addressed in breast cancer, the role of EDI3 in this cancer type has not been explored. Methods: EDI3 mRNA and protein expression in human breast cancer tissue were investigated using publicly-available Affymetrix gene expression microarray datasets (n = 540) and with immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray (n = 265), respectively. A panel of breast cancer cell lines of different molecular subtypes were used to investigate expression and activity of EDI3 in vitro. To determine whether EDI3 expression is regulated by HER2 signalling, the effect of pharmacological inhibition and siRNA silencing of HER2, as well as the influence of inhibiting key components of signalling cascades downstream of HER2 were studied. Finally, the influence of silencing and pharmacologically inhibiting EDI3 on viability was investigated in vitro and on tumour growth in vivo. Results: In the present study, we show that EDI3 expression is highest in ER-HER2 + human breast tumours, and both expression and activity were also highest in ER-HER2 + breast cancer cell lines. Silencing HER2 using siRNA, as well as inhibiting HER2 signalling with lapatinib decreased EDI3 expression. Pathways downstream of PI3K/Akt/mTOR and GSK3β, and transcription factors, including HIF1α, CREB and STAT3 were identified as relevant in regulating EDI3 expression. Silencing EDI3 preferentially decreased cell viability in the ER-HER2 + cells. Furthermore, silencing or pharmacologically inhibiting EDI3 using dipyridamole in ER-HER2 + cells resistant to HER2-targeted therapy decreased cell viability in vitro and tumour growth in vivo. Conclusions: Our results indicate that EDI3 may be a potential novel therapeutic target in patients with HER2-targeted therapy-resistant ER-HER2 + breast cancer that should be further explored.