Latest ArticlesProteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are small-molecule protein degraders based on the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Recently, the development of specific small-molecule ligands for several E3 ligases (CRL4CRBN, CRL2VHL and cIAP) have significantly advanced the PROTACs technology. Several PROTACs against various oncogenic proteins including bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), estrogen receptor (ER) and androgen receptor (AR) have been developed and considered a novel approach for therapy of cancers. There are advantages of the new technology over the traditional small-molecule strategies. This review article provides a summary on the recent progress in the small-molecule-based PROTACs as antitumor drugs, and the challenges of this technology.
With the development of antibody manufacturing technology and improvement in new drug research and development (R&D) capabilities in domestic industry, more and more innovative antibody-based drugs were registered at the Investigational New Drug (IND). This type of drugs could be divided into three categories:new sequence antibodies (biobetter or new target antibodies), bispecific antibodies (or antibody cocktails), and antibody drug conjugates. Comparing with biosimilar antibodies, the innovative antibodies R&D was characterized by some significant features including "innovation", "clinical phase-appropriate" and "progressing". The minimum requirements of Chemical, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) content for innovative antibodies were obviously different from biosimilar antibodies. Here, the recent progress of antibody engineering and IND date of innovative antibodies in domestic are summarized. The general regulatory requirement and special considerations for representative innovative antibodies were proposed. Some common problems concerning innovative antibodies R&D are discussed.
Traditional Chinese medicinal materials (TCMMs) are the material basis of the traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) in the treatment of disease, and the inherent quality of the TCMMs are of crucial importance for the efficacy and safety of TCM. Most of the TCMMs are originated from the plants with complex chemical compositions, and the chemical diversity is inevitable. How to clarify the relationship between the chemical identity and the biological activity is the key point for quality control of TCMMs in the establishment of the quality standards. The components with great impact on the biological activities should be used as index compounds in the quality evaluation. In this study, based on the results in our previous studies, a research idea on the evaluation of quality difference of TCMMs is proposed. Its application and existing problems are also discussed.
Cell membrane chromatography (CMC) was first proposed by Professor He in 1996. As one of bio-affinity chromatography technique, CMC was a simple and convenient technology in the study of interactions of active components in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) with membrane receptors in vitro, and screen active components from complicated TCMs. Recently, the CMC technology was developed rapidly, and widely applied in the discovery of lead compounds from nature product. This review article is focused on the application of cell membrane chromatography in the identification of active components in traditional Chinese medicine, together with the recent development of CMC methodology. Combining with our previous works in the analysis of the composition of complex substances, biochromatography and TLC bioautography for quality evaluation of TCM, we proposed a new holistic quality evaluation strategy of TCM related with bioactivity, which could be summarized as the integration of screen (screening of quality control marker by CMC), macroscopic characterization (characterizing the chemical material basis by multi-dimension and multi data fingerprinting) and microscopic description (multi-component quantification). The proposed strategy would provide a new idea for the holistic quality evaluation of TCM in the composition and concentration of bioactive components as quality evaluation indicators.
In the past 20 years, tumor immunotherapy has made a significant progress in tumor inhibition effects in both laboratory studies and clinical trails. In the immune response to tumor, effective antitumor immunity is induced during the tumor progress; long-term monitoring of the tumor would be achieved through the immune memory, reducing the possibility of tumor recurrence. In the immune treatment strategies, a focus is delivery of therapeutic immune regulators with nanocarriers. It has been demonstrated that due to the special physical and chemical properties, nanocarriers are easily internalized by immune cells, which regulate the immune responses and effectively induce anti-tumor immune cascade to achieve the tumor inhibition effect. In this paper, we will discuss the progress of nanocarrier-mediated antitumor immunotherapy in recent years.
Selenium (molecular weight 78.96), is a necessary non-metallic trace elements. In recent years, more and more studies have found that selenium is closely related to human disease and could not be ignored. In this paper, we elucidate the in vivo absorption and metabolism of selenium; the active substance-selenoprotein P and so on; the correlation between selenium and pathogenesis of various diseases such as cardiovascular disease, AD/PD neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, etc. The aim is to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of selenium, and to research the in vivo process and the biological effects of selenium. At the same time, selenoproteins and related mechanisms might also be a new target for drug research and discovery.
This study was conducted to establish an in vitro 3D liver model and apply it to the drug liver toxicity evaluation. The 3D multicellular sphere model of HepaRG cells was established by hanging-drop technique for evaluation of liver function. The 3D liver model was used to test the hepatotoxicity of isoniazid and amiodarone hydrochloride compared to the 2D cell culture model. Our results showed that HepaRG cells formed a compact spheriod, and the level of cell albumin, urea and the CYP3A4 activity were significantly higher than that of 2D model. With the treatment of amiodarone hydrochloride in 2D and 3D model, the IC50 were 50 and 100 μmol·L-1, respectively. When the dose was less than 1 000 μmol·L-1, isoniazid had no hepatocyte toxicity in 2D model, while the IC50 in 3D model was 700 μmol·L-1. The LDH activities of both drugs in 3D model showed time-and dose-dependent correlation. The results suggest that this in vitro 3D hanging-drop liver model is good for testing liver functions with a high hepatic drug-metabolizing enzyme activity. Compared with the 2D model, the 3D liver model can accurately evaluate the liver toxicity of drugs. Our results demonstrated the importance of in vitro cell culture models for detection of in vivo-relevant adverse effects of drugs.
This study was designed to investigate the effect of Yinxing Mihuan oral solution on rats with myocardial ischemia injury. Left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery was occluded in rats to establish the model. Yinxing Mihuan oral solution was given by intragastric administration daily for one week at dosage of 309 and 618 mg·kg-1. Cardiac ultrasound function, pathologic change and serum myocardial enzymes were determined to evaluate the effect of Yinxing Mihuan oral solution. The heart function was significantly reduced in the model group compared with sham operation group, and the pathologic damage was clear. The changes were significantly improved by Diltiazem hydrochloride tablets in heart function and ejection fraction (P < 0.01). The ejection fraction and stroke volume was improved by Yinxing Mihuan oral solution (618 mg·kg-1) (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). In addition, Yinxing Mihuan oral solution decreased the myocardial damage and inhibited inflammatory reaction, and inhibited platelet activation factor. Yinxing Mihuan oral solution can protect against myocardial ischemia injury, inflammation and platelet activation in the rat model.
This study was designed to investigate the therapeutic effect and mechanisms of action of novel compound N-(Z)-9-octadecenyl-2-propanesulfonamide (N15) on type 2 diabetes (T2DM). A mouse model of T2DM was established with multiple injection of streptozotocin (STZ) at a low dose. N15 at different doses (50, 100 and 200 mg·kg-1·d-1) and pioglitazone (6 mg·kg-1·d-1) were administrated orally for 6 weeks. The level of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and fasting insulin (FIns) were measured in the course of the experiment for insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR). Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test (IPITT) were determined in the treated mice. The expression of Akt, AMPK and Glut4 in liver were analyzed by Western blot. N15 was found to reduce the level of FBG, FIns and HOMA-IR (P < 0.01) and ameliorate the glucose and insulin tolerance (P < 0.01, P < 0.001). Simultaneously the protein expression of p-Akt, p-AMPK and Glut4 was significantly increased in liver by N15 (P < 0.01). These effects were similar to those of pioglitazone (P > 0.05). These results suggested that the novel compound N15 can ameliorate insulin resistance and the potential mechanism may be associated with increased insulin signaling in liver and promotion of phosphatidyl inositol 3 phosphate phosphorylation.
The aim of the experiments is to screen human single-chain variable fragment (scFv) targeting glypican 3 from phage display library, and analyze its biological activity. After several rounds of panning, the binders with high affinity were obtained through phage ELISA and IMGT analysis. The desired scFv gene was then ligated with pET-22b vector yielding recombinant plasmids, which was then introduced into E. coli Rosetta (DE3). Soluble scFv protein was expressed and further purified using Ni2+ affinity chromatography. The purified proteins were identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Subsequently, the affinity and cell based binding activity were measured using Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and flow cytometry assay, separately. Four enriched sequences with relatively high binding affinity were found (1F7, 1D7, 1D4 and 1B10). We also found that 1F7 scFv showed better targeting ability and higher affinity. The scFv could pave the way for new immunotherapies, such as bispecific anitbody, antibody-drug conjugate and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy cell, etc.
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