@phdthesis{GonzalezLeal2014,
  author    = {Gonzalez-Leal, Iris Janet},
  title     = {Roles of cathepsins B and L in the Th1/Th2 polarization by dendritic cells},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-114397},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease that can be manifested through different clinical forms, ranging from cutaneous to visceral. The host response against Leishmania spp. is greatly dependent on T cell-mediated immunity, in which T helper 1 responses are associated with macrophage activation and elimination of the parasite, while regulatory T cells and T helper 2 responses are correlated with parasite survival and persistence of infection. Leishmania uses different virulence factors as strategies for evading the immune response of the host. One of them are cathepsin-like cysteine proteases, which are currently under extensive investigation as targets for drug development. Previous studies with inhibitors of cathepsins B and L in vivo revealed an outstanding modulation of the host T helper cell response. However, the mechanisms behind these observations were not further investigated. Given the urgent need for better treatments against leishmaniasis, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects that the lack of cathepsin B and L activity have on the signals that dendritic cells use to instruct T helper cell polarization in response to infection with Leishmania major. The cathepsin inhibitors tested showed low or no cytotoxicity in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells, and dendritic cells and macrophages could be generated from cathepsin B and cathepsin L-deficient mice without apparent alterations in their phenotype in comparison to wild-type controls. Furthermore, lack of cathepsin B and L activity showed no impact in the rate of promastigote processing by dendritic cells. Cathepsin B and cathepsin L-deficient macrophages showed no differences in parasite proliferation and capacity to produce nitric oxide in comparison to wild-type macrophages. In response to the parasite, dendritic cells treated with a cathepsin B inhibitor and dendritic cells from cathepsin B-deficient mice showed higher levels of expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules than dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or wild-type controls, but it was not accompanied by changes in the expression of costimulatory molecules. Wild-type dendritic cells and macrophages are not able to express the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-12 in response to promastigotes. However, cells treated with a cathepsin B inhibitor or cells deficient for cathepsin B were able to express IL-12, whilethe expression of other cytokines -including IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-remained unchanged. These characteristics point towards a more "pro-Th1" profile of dendritic cells in the absence of cathepsin B. This data is the first report on IL-12 regulation depending on cathepsin B. The IL-12 up-regulation observed was already present at the transcriptional level. Furthermore, it was also present in macrophages and dendritic cells in response to LPS, and the latter had a higher capacity to induce T cell helper 1 polarization in vitro than wild-type dendritic cells. The activation of different signaling pathways was analyzed, but the up-regulation of IL-12 could not be attributed to modulation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NFkappaB), p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) and extra-cellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 pathways. Thus, the mechanism behind IL-12 regulation by cathepsin B remains to be elucidated, and the impact of these effects is yet to be confirmed in vivo. Altogether it is tempting to speculate that cathepsin B, in addition to its role in processing endocytosed material, is involved in the modulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-12.},
  subject      = {Leishmaniose},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Narkhede2018,
  author    = {Narkhede, Yogesh},
  title     = {In silico structure-based optimisation of pyrrolidine carboxamides as Mycobacterium tuberculosis enoyl-ACP reductase inhibitors},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-152468},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The high infection rates and recent emergence of extremely drug resistant forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis pose a significant challenge for global health. The NADH- dependent enoyl-ACP-reductase InhA of the type II mycobacterial fatty acid biosynthesis pathway is a well-validated target for inhibiting mycobacterial growth. InhA has been shown to be inhibited by a variety of compound series. Prominent classes of InhA inhibitors from literature include diaryl ethers, pyrrolidine carboxamides and arylamides which can be subjected to further development. Despite the progress in this area, very few compounds are in clinical development phase. The present work involves a detailed computational investigation of the binding modes and structure-based optimisation of pyrrolidine carboxamides as InhA inhibitors. With substituents of widely varying bulkiness, the pyrrolidine carboxamide dataset presented a challenge for prediction of binding mode as well as affinity. Using advanced docking protocols and in-house developed pose selection procedures, the binding modes of 44 compounds were predicted. The poses from docking were used in short molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to ascertain the dominant binding conformations for the bulkier members of the series. Subsequently, an activity-based classification strategy could be developed to circumvent the affinity prediction problems observed with this dataset. The prominent motions of the bound ligand and the active site residues were then ascertained using Essential Dynamics (ED). The information from ED and literature was subsequently used to design a total of 20 compounds that were subjected to extensive in-silico evaluations. Finally, the molecular determinants of rapid-reversible binding of pyrrolidine carboxamides were investigated using long MD simulations.},
  subject      = {Tuberkelbakterium},
  language  = {en}
}