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De Castro F, Stefàno E, Fanizzi FP, Di Corato R, Abdalla P, Luchetti F, Nasoni MG, Rinaldi R, Magnani M, Benedetti M, Antonelli A. Compatibility of Nucleobases Containing Pt(II) Complexes with Red Blood Cells for Possible Drug Delivery Applications. Molecules 2023; 28:6760. [PMID: 37836603 PMCID: PMC10574024 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28196760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The therapeutic advantages of some platinum complexes as major anticancer chemotherapeutic agents and of nucleoside analogue-based compounds as essential antiviral/antitumor drugs are widely recognized. Red blood cells (RBCs) offer a potential new strategy for the targeted release of therapeutic agents due to their biocompatibility, which can protect loaded drugs from inactivation in the blood, thus improving biodistribution. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of loading model nucleobase-containing Pt(II) complexes into human RBCs that were highly stabilized by four N-donors and susceptible to further modification for possible antitumor/antiviral applications. Specifically, platinum-based nucleoside derivatives [PtII(dien)(N7-Guo)]2+, [PtII(dien)(N7-dGuo)]2+, and [PtII(dien)(N7-dGTP)] (dien = diethylenetriamine; Guo = guanosine; dGuo = 2'-deoxy-guanosine; dGTP = 5'-(2'-deoxy)-guanosine-triphosphate) were investigated. These Pt(II) complexes were demonstrated to be stable species suitable for incorporation into RBCs. This result opens avenues for the possible incorporation of other metalated nucleobases analogues, with potential antitumor and/or antiviral activity, into RBCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica De Castro
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (F.D.C.); (E.S.)
| | - Erika Stefàno
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (F.D.C.); (E.S.)
| | - Francesco Paolo Fanizzi
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (F.D.C.); (E.S.)
| | - Riccardo Di Corato
- Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 73010 Arnesano, Italy;
- Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM), CNR, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy;
| | - Pasant Abdalla
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Via Saffi 2, 61029 Urbino, Italy; (P.A.); (F.L.); (M.G.N.); (M.M.)
| | - Francesca Luchetti
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Via Saffi 2, 61029 Urbino, Italy; (P.A.); (F.L.); (M.G.N.); (M.M.)
| | - Maria Gemma Nasoni
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Via Saffi 2, 61029 Urbino, Italy; (P.A.); (F.L.); (M.G.N.); (M.M.)
| | - Rosaria Rinaldi
- Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM), CNR, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy;
- Mathematics and Physics “E. De Giorgi” Department, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
| | - Mauro Magnani
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Via Saffi 2, 61029 Urbino, Italy; (P.A.); (F.L.); (M.G.N.); (M.M.)
| | - Michele Benedetti
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (F.D.C.); (E.S.)
| | - Antonella Antonelli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Via Saffi 2, 61029 Urbino, Italy; (P.A.); (F.L.); (M.G.N.); (M.M.)
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De Castro F, Ciardullo G, Fanizzi FP, Prejanò M, Benedetti M, Marino T. Incorporation of N7-Platinated Guanines into Thermus Aquaticus (Taq) DNA Polymerase: Atomistic Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:9849. [PMID: 37372996 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24129849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
In this work, we elucidated some key aspects of the mechanism of action of the cisplatin anticancer drug, cis-[Pt(NH3)2Cl2], involving direct interactions with free nucleotides. A comprehensive in silico molecular modeling analysis was conducted to compare the interactions of Thermus aquaticus (Taq) DNA polymerase with three distinct N7-platinated deoxyguanosine triphosphates: [Pt(dien)(N7-dGTP)] (1), cis-[Pt(NH3)2Cl(N7-dGTP)] (2), and cis-[Pt(NH3)2(H2O)(N7-dGTP)] (3) {dien = diethylenetriamine; dGTP = 5'-(2'-deoxy)-guanosine-triphosphate}, using canonical dGTP as a reference, in the presence of DNA. The goal was to elucidate the binding site interactions between Taq DNA polymerase and the tested nucleotide derivatives, providing valuable atomistic insights. Unbiased molecular dynamics simulations (200 ns for each complex) with explicit water molecules were performed on the four ternary complexes, yielding significant findings that contribute to a better understanding of experimental results. The molecular modeling highlighted the crucial role of a specific α-helix (O-helix) within the fingers subdomain, which facilitates the proper geometry for functional contacts between the incoming nucleotide and the DNA template needed for incorporation into the polymerase. The analysis revealed that complex 1 exhibits a much lower affinity for Taq DNA polymerase than complexes 2-3. The affinities of cisplatin metabolites 2-3 for Taq DNA polymerase were found to be quite similar to those of natural dGTP, resulting in a lower incorporation rate for complex 1 compared to complexes 2-3. These findings could have significant implications for the cisplatin mechanism of action, as the high intracellular availability of free nucleobases might promote the competitive incorporation of platinated nucleotides over direct cisplatin attachment to DNA. The study's insights into the incorporation of platinated nucleotides into the Taq DNA polymerase active site suggest that the role of platinated nucleotides in the cisplatin mechanism of action may have been previously underestimated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica De Castro
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Prov.le Lecce-Monteroni, Centro Ecotekne, I-73100 Lecce, Italy
| | - Giada Ciardullo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche, Laboratorio PROMOCS cubo 14C, Università della Calabria, I-87036 Rende, Italy
| | - Francesco Paolo Fanizzi
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Prov.le Lecce-Monteroni, Centro Ecotekne, I-73100 Lecce, Italy
| | - Mario Prejanò
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche, Laboratorio PROMOCS cubo 14C, Università della Calabria, I-87036 Rende, Italy
| | - Michele Benedetti
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Prov.le Lecce-Monteroni, Centro Ecotekne, I-73100 Lecce, Italy
| | - Tiziana Marino
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche, Laboratorio PROMOCS cubo 14C, Università della Calabria, I-87036 Rende, Italy
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Drosophila melanogaster Uncoupling Protein-4A (UCP4A) Catalyzes a Unidirectional Transport of Aspartate. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23031020. [PMID: 35162943 PMCID: PMC8834685 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2021] [Revised: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) form a distinct subfamily of the mitochondrial carrier family (MCF) SLC25. Four UCPs, DmUCP4A-C and DmUCP5, have been identified in Drosophila melanogaster on the basis of their sequence homology with mammalian UCP4 and UCP5. In a Parkinson’s disease model, DmUCP4A showed a protective role against mitochondrial dysfunction, by increasing mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP synthesis. To date, DmUCP4A is still an orphan of a biochemical function, although its possible involvement in mitochondrial uncoupling has been ruled out. Here, we show that DmUCP4A expressed in bacteria and reconstituted in phospholipid vesicles catalyzes a unidirectional transport of aspartate, which is saturable and inhibited by mercurials and other mitochondrial carrier inhibitors to various degrees. Swelling experiments carried out in yeast mitochondria have demonstrated that the unidirectional transport of aspartate catalyzed by DmUCP4 is not proton-coupled. The biochemical function of DmUCP4A has been further confirmed in a yeast cell model, in which growth has required an efflux of aspartate from mitochondria. Notably, DmUCP4A is the first UCP4 homolog from any species to be biochemically characterized. In Drosophila melanogaster, DmUCP4A could be involved in the transport of aspartate from mitochondria to the cytosol, in which it could be used for protein and nucleotide synthesis, as well as in the biosynthesis of ß-alanine and N-acetylaspartate, which play key roles in signal transmission in the central nervous system.
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De Castro F, De Luca E, Girelli CR, Barca A, Romano A, Migoni D, Verri T, Benedetti M, Fanizzi FP. First evidence for N7-Platinated Guanosine derivatives cell uptake mediated by plasma membrane transport processes. J Inorg Biochem 2021; 226:111660. [PMID: 34801970 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2021.111660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 11/03/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA) belong to a family of compounds widely used in anticancer/antiviral treatments. They generally exhibit a cell toxicity limited by cellular uptake levels and the resulting nucleos(t)ides metabolism modifications, interfering with the cell machinery for nucleic acids synthesis. We previously synthesized purine nucleos(t)ide analogues N7-coordinated to a platinum centre with unaltered sugar moieties of the type: [Pt(dien)(N7-dGuo)]2+ (1; dien = diethylenetriamine; dGuo = 2'-deoxy-guanosine), [Pt(dien)(N7-dGMP)] (2; dGMP = 5'-(2'-deoxy)-guanosine monophosphate), and [Pt(dien)(N7-dGTP)]2- (3; dGTP = 5'-(2'-deoxy)-guanosine triphosphate), where the indicated electric charge is calculated at physiological pH (7.4). In this work, we specifically investigated the uptake of these complexes (1-3) at the plasma membrane level. Specific experiments on HeLa cervical cancer cells indicated a relevant cellular uptake of the model platinated deoxynucleos(t)ide 1 and 3 while complex 2 appeared unable to cross the cell plasma membrane. Obtained data buttress an uptake mechanism involving Na+-dependent concentrative transporters localized at the plasma membrane level. Consistently, 1 and 3 showed higher cytotoxicity with respect to complex 2 also suggesting selective possible applications as antiviral/antitumor drugs among the used model compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica De Castro
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
| | - Erik De Luca
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
| | - Chiara Roberta Girelli
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
| | - Amilcare Barca
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
| | - Alessandro Romano
- Divisione di Neuroscienze, Istituto di Neurologia Sperimentale, Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, I-20132 Milano, Italy.
| | - Danilo Migoni
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
| | - Tiziano Verri
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
| | - Michele Benedetti
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
| | - Francesco Paolo Fanizzi
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.
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The mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carrier (AGC or Aralar1) isoforms in D. melanogaster: biochemical characterization, gene structure, and evolutionary analysis. Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 2021; 1865:129854. [PMID: 33497735 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2021.129854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In man two mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carrier (AGC) isoforms, known as aralar and citrin, are required to accomplish several metabolic pathways. In order to fill the existing gap of knowledge in Drosophila melanogaster, we have studied aralar1 gene, orthologue of human AGC-encoding genes in this organism. METHODS The blastp algorithm and the "reciprocal best hit" approach have been used to identify the human orthologue of AGCs in Drosophilidae and non-Drosophilidae. Aralar1 proteins have been overexpressed in Escherichia coli and functionally reconstituted into liposomes for transport assays. RESULTS The transcriptional organization of aralar1 comprises six isoforms, three constitutively expressed (aralar1-RA, RD and RF), and the remaining three distributed during the development or in different tissues (aralar1-RB, RC and RE). Aralar1-PA and Aralar1-PE, representative of all isoforms, have been biochemically characterized. Recombinant Aralar1-PA and Aralar1-PE proteins share similar efficiency to exchange glutamate against aspartate, and same substrate affinities than the human isoforms. Interestingly, although Aralar1-PA and Aralar1-PE diverge only in their EF-hand 8, they greatly differ in their specific activities and substrate specificity. CONCLUSIONS The tight regulation of aralar1 transcripts expression and the high request of aspartate and glutamate during early embryogenesis suggest a crucial role of Aralar1 in this Drosophila developmental stage. Furthermore, biochemical characterization and calcium sensitivity have identified Aralar1-PA and Aralar1-PE as the human aralar and citrin counterparts, respectively. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE The functional characterization of the fruit fly mitochondrial AGC transporter represents a crucial step toward a complete understanding of the metabolic events acting during early embryogenesis.
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Drosophila melanogaster Mitochondrial Carriers: Similarities and Differences with the Human Carriers. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:ijms21176052. [PMID: 32842667 PMCID: PMC7504413 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21176052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Revised: 08/19/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Mitochondrial carriers are a family of structurally related proteins responsible for the exchange of metabolites, cofactors and nucleotides between the cytoplasm and mitochondrial matrix. The in silico analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster genome has highlighted the presence of 48 genes encoding putative mitochondrial carriers, but only 20 have been functionally characterized. Despite most Drosophila mitochondrial carrier genes having human homologs and sharing with them 50% or higher sequence identity, D. melanogaster genes display peculiar differences from their human counterparts: (1) in the fruit fly, many genes encode more transcript isoforms or are duplicated, resulting in the presence of numerous subfamilies in the genome; (2) the expression of the energy-producing genes in D. melanogaster is coordinated from a motif known as Nuclear Respiratory Gene (NRG), a palindromic 8-bp sequence; (3) fruit-fly duplicated genes encoding mitochondrial carriers show a testis-biased expression pattern, probably in order to keep a duplicate copy in the genome. Here, we review the main features, biological activities and role in the metabolism of the D. melanogaster mitochondrial carriers characterized to date, highlighting similarities and differences with their human counterparts. Such knowledge is very important for obtaining an integrated view of mitochondrial function in D. melanogaster metabolism.
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Dabbish E, Ponte F, Russo N, Sicilia E. Antitumor Platinium(IV) Prodrugs: A Systematic Computational Exploration of Their Reduction Mechanism by l-Ascorbic Acid. Inorg Chem 2019; 58:3851-3860. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b03486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eslam Dabbish
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, Università della Calabria, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
| | - Fortuna Ponte
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, Università della Calabria, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
| | - Nino Russo
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, Università della Calabria, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
| | - Emilia Sicilia
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, Università della Calabria, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy
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Response of Cisplatin Resistant Skov-3 Cells to [Pt( O,O'-Acac)(γ-Acac)(DMS)] Treatment Revealed by a Metabolomic ¹H-NMR Study. Molecules 2018; 23:molecules23092301. [PMID: 30205612 PMCID: PMC6225129 DOI: 10.3390/molecules23092301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2018] [Revised: 09/04/2018] [Accepted: 09/06/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The novel [Pt(O,O′-acac)(γ-acac)(DMS)], Ptac2S, Pt(II) complex has recently gained increasing attention as a potential anticancer agent for its pharmacological activity shown in different tumor cell lines, studied both in vitro and in vivo. The mechanism of action of Ptac2S, operating on non-genomic targets, is known to be very different from that of cis-[PtCl2(NH3)2], cisplatin, targeting nucleic acids. In this work, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of Ptac2S on the cisplatin resistant Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma (EOC), SKOV-3 cells, by the MTT assay. A 1H-NMR metabolomic approach coupled with multivariate statistical analysis was used for the first time for Ptac2S to figure out the biological mechanisms of action of the complex. The metabolic variations of intracellular metabolites and the composition of the corresponding extracellular culture media were compared to those of cisplatin (cells were treated at the IC50 doses of both drugs). The reported comparative metabolomic analysis revealed a very different metabolic profile between Ptac2S and cisplatin treated samples, thus confirming the different mechanism of action of Ptac2S also in the Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma (EOC), SKOV-3 cells line. In particular, higher levels of pyruvate were observed in Ptac2S treated, with respect to cisplatin treated, cells (in both aqueous and culture media). In addition, a very different lipid expression resulted after the exposure to the two drugs (Ptac2S and cisplatin). These results suggest a possible explanation for the Ptac2S ability to circumvent cisplatin resistance in SKOV-3 cells.
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Polypyridyl Zinc(II)-Indomethacin Complexes with Potent Anti-Breast Cancer Stem Cell Activity. Molecules 2018; 23:molecules23092253. [PMID: 30181492 PMCID: PMC6225474 DOI: 10.3390/molecules23092253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2018] [Revised: 08/27/2018] [Accepted: 08/31/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought of as a clinically pertinent subpopulation of tumors, partly responsible for cancer relapse and metastasis. Research programs aimed at discovering anti-CSC agents have largely focused on biologics and purely organic molecules. Recently, we showed that a family of redox-active copper(II) complexes with phenanthroline-based ligands and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as indomethacin, are capable of potently and selectively killing breast CSCs. Herein we present analogous redox-inactive, zinc(II)-phenanthroline-indomethacin complexes with the ability to kill breast CSCs and bulk breast cancer cells with equal potency (in the submicro- or micromolar range). A single dose of the zinc(II) complexes could theoretically be administered to eliminate whole tumor populations. Excitingly, some of the zinc(II) complexes decrease the growth and viability of mammospheres to a comparable or higher degree than salinomycin, a compound known to effectively kill breast CSCs. As far as we are aware this is the first report to examine the anti-breast CSC activity of zinc(II)-containing compounds.
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