Inhibition of TNF-α Signaling: Divide and Conquer

Progress of Metal-Based Anticancer Chemotherapeutic Agents in Last two Decades and their Comprehensive Biological (DNA/RNA Binding, Cleavage and Cytotoxicity Activity) Studies

During last two decades, there has been an enormous growth in the discovery of innovative active inorganic anticancer complexes (exerting remarkable cytotoxicity at sub micro-molar levels) derived from myriad ligand scaffolds, mainly acting on cancerous vs healthy cells by either halting or inhibiting their uncontrolled growth. The phenomenal success of cisplatin to treat numerous forms of solid malignancies has placed metal-based drugs to the forefront of treatment strategies against cancers. More than 10,000 platinum anticancer complexes have been developed during the past 40 years, but only five drugs have been approved for usage in humans while ten more complexes are currently undergoing clinical trials. Most of the compounds have failed either at R&D stages or in preclinical trails. This has led to extensive investigations by researchers of medicinal chemistry, including our group to design and prepare tailored 3d-metallo-drugs and organotin(IV) compounds from some naturally occurring bioactive compounds, such as amino-acids, peptides, chromone derivatives and NSAID's etc. that were used either alone or in cocktail combination, capable of specifically targeting DNA, lnc RNAs and proteins. Furthermore, 3d-metal ions such as copper, cobalt and zinc etc. incorporated in these ligand framework are biocompatible and induce a unique multi-modal mechanism of cytotoxic action involving angiogenesis, ROS-induced DNA damage, apoptosis by p53 mitochondrial genes and caspases etc. The results observed a positive correlation between the binding affinity of complexes with DNA (as quantified by intrinsic binding constant values) and their cytotoxic behavior. Complexes with high DNA binding propensity were typically lethal against a diverse panel of malignant cell types compared to normal cells.

Design and synthesis of a DNA intercalative half-sandwich organoruthenium(ii)–chromone complex: cytotoxicity evaluation and topoisomerase Iα inhibition assay

A half-sandwich organoruthenium(ii)–chromone complex acts as a potential topoisomerase I inhibitor.

Novel tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) inhibitors from small molecule library screening for their therapeutic activity profiles against rheumatoid arthritis using target-driven approaches and binary QSAR models

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a multifunctional cytokine that acts as a central biological mediator for critical immune functions, including inflammation, infection, and antitumor responses. It plays pivotal role in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The synthetic antibodies etanercept, infliximab, and adalimumab are approved drugs for the treatment of inflammatory diseases bind to TNF-α directly, preventing its association with the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR). These biologics causes serious side effects such as triggering an autoimmune anti-antibody response or the weakening of the body's immune defenses. Therefore, alternative small-molecule based therapies for TNF-α inhibition is a hot topic both in academia and industry. Most of small-molecule inhibitors reported in the literature target TNF-α, indirectly. In this study, combined in silico approaches have been applied to better understand the important direct interactions between TNF-α and small inhibitors. Our effort executed with the extensive literature review to select the compounds that inhibit TNF-α. High-throughput structure-based and ligand-based virtual screening methods are applied to identify TNF-α inhibitors from 3 different small molecule databases (∼256.000 molecules from Otava drug-like green chemical collection, ∼ 500.000 molecules from Otava Tangible database, ∼2.500.000 Enamine small molecule database) and ∼240.000 molecules from ZINC natural products libraries. Moreover, therapeutic activity prediction, as well as pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles are also investigated using MetaCore/MetaDrug platform which is based on a manually curated database of molecular interactions, molecular pathways, gene-disease associations, chemical metabolism and toxicity information, uses binary QSAR models. Particular therapeutic activity and toxic effect predictions are based on the ChemTree ability to correlate structural descriptors to that property using recursive partitioning algorithm. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations were also performed for selected hits to investigate their detailed structural and dynamical analysis beyond docking studies. As a result, at least one hit from each database were identified as novel TNF-α inhibitors after comprehensive virtual screening, multiple docking, e-Pharmacophore modeling (structure-based pharmacophore modeling), MD simulations, and MetaCore/MetaDrug analysis. Identified hits show predicted promising anti-arthritic activity and no toxicity. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Cheminformatics-aided discovery of small-molecule Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) dual inhibitors of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and Receptor Activator of NF-κB Ligand (RANKL)

We present an in silico drug discovery pipeline developed and applied for the identification and virtual screening of small-molecule Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) compounds that act as dual inhibitors of TNF and RANKL through the trimerization interface. The cheminformatics part of the pipeline was developed by combining structure-based with ligand-based modeling using the largest available set of known TNF inhibitors in the literature (2481 small molecules). To facilitate virtual screening, the consensus predictive model was made freely available at: http://enalos.insilicotox.com/TNFPubChem/. We thus generated a priority list of nine small molecules as candidates for direct TNF function inhibition. In vitro evaluation of these compounds led to the selection of two small molecules that act as potent direct inhibitors of TNF function, with IC50 values comparable to those of a previously-described direct inhibitor (SPD304), but with significantly reduced toxicity. These molecules were also identified as RANKL inhibitors and validated in vitro with respect to this second functionality. Direct binding of the two compounds was confirmed both for TNF and RANKL, as well as their ability to inhibit the biologically-active trimer forms. Molecular dynamics calculations were also carried out for the two small molecules in each protein to offer additional insight into the interactions that govern TNF and RANKL complex formation. To our knowledge, these compounds, namely T8 and T23, constitute the second and third published examples of dual small-molecule direct function inhibitors of TNF and RANKL, and could serve as lead compounds for the development of novel treatments for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Mechanistic insights into a novel chromone-appended Cu(II) anticancer drug entity: in vitro binding profile with DNA/RNA substrates and cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and HepG2 cancer cells

A new chromone-appended Cu(ii) drug entity () was designed and synthesized as a potential anticancer chemotherapeutic agent. The structural elucidation was carried out thoroughly by elemental analysis, FT-IR, EPR, ESI-MS and single crystal X-ray crystallography. Complex resulted from the in situ methoxylation reaction of the 3-formylchromone ligand and its subsequent complexation with the copper nitrate salt in a 2 : 1 ratio, respectively. crystallized in the monoclinic P21/c space group possessing the lattice parameters, a = 8.75 Å, b = 5.07 Å, c = 26.22 Å, α = γ = 90°, β = 96.3° per unit cell. Furthermore, in vitro interaction studies of with ct-DNA and tRNA were carried out which suggested more avid binding propensity towards the RNA target via intercalative mode, which was reflected from its Kb, K and Ksv values. The gel electrophoretic mobility assay was carried out on the pBR322 plasmid DNA substrate, to ascertain the cleaving ability and the mechanistic pathway in the presence of additives, and the results revealed the efficient cleaving ability of via the oxidative pathway. In vitro cell growth inhibition via the MTT assay was carried out to evaluate the cytotoxicity of complex and IC50 values were found to be in the range of 5-10 μg mL(-1) in HepG2 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines, which were found to be much lower than the IC50 values of previously reported similar Cu(ii) complexes. Additionally, in the presence of , reactive oxygen species (ROS) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) levels in the tested cancer cell lines increased significantly, coupled with reduced glutathione (GSH) levels. Thus, our results suggested that ROS plays an important role in cell apoptosis induced by the Cu(ii) complex and validates its potential to act as a robust anticancer drug entity.

Is there a role of TNFR1 in acute lung injury cases associated with extracorporeal circulation?

The signaling pathway for tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and its receptors is up-regulated during extracorporeal circulation (ECC), and recruits blood neutrophil into the lung tissue, which results in acute lung injury (ALI). In this study, we evaluated the role of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) in ECC-induced ALI by blocking TNF-α binding to TNFR1 with CAY10500. Anesthetized Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were pretreated intravenously with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or vehicle (0.3 ml ethanol IV) or CAY10500, and then underwent ECC for 2 h. The oxygenation index (OI) and pulmonary inflammation were assessed after ECC. OI was significantly decreased, while TNF-α and neutrophil in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and plasma TNF-α increased after ECC. Pretreatment of CAY10500 decreased plasma TNF-α level, but did not decrease TNF-α levels and neutrophil counts in BALF or improve OI. Lung histopathology showed significant alveolar congestion, infiltration of the leukocytes in the airspace, and increased thickness of the alveolar wall in all ECC-treated groups. CAY10500 pretreatment slightly reduced leukocyte infiltration in lungs, but did not change the wet/dry ratio in the lung tissue. Blocking TNF-α binding to TNFR1 by CAY10500 intravenously slightly mitigates pulmonary inflammation, but cannot improve the pulmonary function, indicating the limited role of TNFR1 pathway in circulating inflammatory cell in ECC-induced ALI.

Neutralizing endogenous chemokines with small molecules. Principles and potential therapeutic applications

Regulation of cellular responses to external stimuli such as hormones, neurotransmitters, or cytokines is achieved through the control of all steps of the complex cascade starting with synthesis, going through maturation steps, release, distribution, degradation and/or uptake of the signalling molecule interacting with the target protein. One possible way of regulation, referred to as scavenging or neutralization of the ligand, has been increasingly studied, especially for small protein ligands. It shows innovative potential in chemical biology approaches as well as in disease treatment. Neutralization of protein ligands, as for example cytokines or chemokines can lead to the validation of signalling pathways under physiological or pathophysiological conditions, and in certain cases, to the development of therapeutic molecules now used in autoimmune diseases, chronic inflammation and cancer treatment. This review explores the field of ligand neutralization and tries to determine to what extent small chemical molecules could substitute for neutralizing antibodies in therapeutic approaches.