TY - JOUR A1 - Shityakov, Sergey A1 - Skorb, Ekaterina V. A1 - Förster, Carola Y. A1 - Dandekar, Thomas T1 - Scaffold Searching of FDA and EMA-Approved Drugs Identifies Lead Candidates for Drug Repurposing in Alzheimer’s Disease JF - Frontiers in Chemistry N2 - Clinical trials of novel therapeutics for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) have consumed a significant amount of time and resources with largely negative results. Repurposing drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), or Worldwide for another indication is a more rapid and less expensive option. Therefore, we apply the scaffold searching approach based on known amyloid-beta (Aβ) inhibitor tramiprosate to screen the DrugCentral database (n = 4,642) of clinically tested drugs. As a result, menadione bisulfite and camphotamide substances with protrombogenic and neurostimulation/cardioprotection effects were identified as promising Aβ inhibitors with an improved binding affinity (ΔGbind) and blood-brain barrier permeation (logBB). Finally, the data was also confirmed by molecular dynamics simulations using implicit solvation, in particular as Molecular Mechanics Generalized Born Surface Area (MM-GBSA) model. Overall, the proposed in silico pipeline can be implemented through the early stage rational drug design to nominate some lead candidates for AD, which will be further validated in vitro and in vivo, and, finally, in a clinical trial. KW - scaffold search KW - approved drugs KW - drug repurposing KW - alzheimer's disease KW - chemical similarity KW - molecular modeling Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-248703 SN - 2296-2646 VL - 9 ER - TY - THES A1 - Busch, Albert Franz Jakob T1 - Modification of angiogenesis to abrogate abdominal aortic aneurysm growth T1 - Modifikation von Angiogenese um das Wachstum abdominaler Aortenaneurysmen zu beeinflussen N2 - Introduction: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a pathological saccular enlargement most often of the infrarenal aorta. Eventual rupture is fatal, making preemptive surgical therapy upon a diameter threshold of >50mm the treatment of choice. The pathophysiology, especially the initial trigger aortic remodeling is still largely unknown. However, some characteristic features involved in aneurysm growth have been established, such as medial angiogenesis, low-grade inflammation, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotype switch, extracellular remodeling, altered hemodynamics and an eventual humoral immune answer. Currently, no medical treatment options are available. RNA therapeutics and drug repurposing offer new possibilities to overcome this shortage. Using such to target angiogenesis in the aneurysm wall and investigate their potential mechanisms is the aim of this thesis. Material and Methods: We test our hypothesis by targeting the long non-coding RNA H19 and re-use the anti-cancer drug Lenvatinib in two murine inducible AAA models and one preclinical large animal model in the LDLR-/- pig. Furthermore, a H19-/- mouse is included to verify the results. AAA and control samples from a human biobank along with a primary human cell culture are used to verify results ex vivo by qPCR, WesternBlot, live cell imaging, histo- and immunohistochemistry along with gene array analysis, RNA knockdown, pull-down- and promotor assays. Results: H19 is significantly upregulated in AAA mice models and its knockdown limited aneurysm growth. It is well known that H19 interacts with several transcription factors. We found that cytoplasmic interaction between H19 and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1α) increased apoptosis in cultured SMCs associated with sequential p53 stabilization. In contrast, the knockdown of H19 was associated with markedly decreased apoptotic cell rates. Our data underline that HIF1α was essential in mediating the pro-apoptotic effects of H19. Secondly, Lenvatinib was applied both systemically and locally by endovascular means in mice with an established AAA. The drug significantly halted aneurysm growth and array analysis revealed myosin heavy chain 11 (MYH11) as the most differentially regulated target. This was shown to be up regulated after Lenvatinib treatment of primary AAA smooth muscle cells suggesting a salvage mechanism to obtain a contractile phenotype based on gene expression and immunohistochemistry. The same results were shown upon a local endovascular Lenvatinib-coated balloon angioplasty in the established aneurysmatic lesion of a novel atherosclerotic LDLR-/- Yucatan minipig model. Decreased phosphorylation of extracellular-signal regulated kinases 1-2 (ERK1-2) is the downstream effect of Lenvatinib-specific blockage of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR2). Conclusion: Taking into account the heterogeneity of the disease, inhibition of VSMC phenotype switch, extracellular remodeling and angiogenesis seem promising targets in some if not all AAA patients. Together with surveillance and surgical therapy, these new non-invasive treatment strategies would allow for a more personalized approach to treat this disease. N2 - Einleitung: Das abdominale Aortenaneurysma (AAA) ist eine Erweiterung der infrarenalen Aorta. Die größte Gefahr ist eine Ruptur, sodass eine präemptive chirurgische Ausschaltung ab 50mm Durchmesser empfohlen wird. Insbesondere die initialen Triggermechanismen zur AAA Entstehung sind weiterhin unklar. Einige charakteristische Eigenschaften des Aneurysmawachstums sind z.B. Angiogenese in der Media, low-grade Entzündung, die vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) Phänotyp-Änderung, Remodelling der extrazellulären Matrix, eine veränderte Hämodynamik und eine humorale Immunantwort. Gegenwärtig sind neben den chirurgischen, keine medikamentösen Therapiealternativen vorhanden. RNA-Therapien und drug repurposing könnten dies ändern. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Beeinflussung der Angiogenese, um das Wachstum von AAAs zu verändern. Material und Methoden: Um diese Hypothese zu überprüfen wurden zwei verschiedene Ansätze verfolgt: Inhibition der long non-coding RNA H19 und die Verwendung von Lenvatinib in zwei Mausmodellen mit induzierbarem AAA und einem präklinischen Großtiermodell im LDLR-/- Schwein. Zusätzlich wurden Versuche in einer H19-/- Maus durchgeführt. AAA und Kontrollen aus einer humanen Biobank in Kombination mit der Verwendung einer primären Zellkultur aus AAA Patientenproben, wurden mittels qPCR, WesternBlot, live cell imaging, Histo- und Immunhistochemie sowie Microarray Analysen und RNA knockdown untersucht. Ergebnisse: Wir zeigen, dass experimenteller knockdown von H19, mittels antisense Oligonukleotiden (LNA-GapmeRs) in vivo das AAA Wachstum signifikant einschränkt. In vitro reduziert dieser knockdown deutlich die Apoptoserate von menschlichen aortalen VSMCs. Mittels array Analyse wurde hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1α) als Zielgen identifiziert. Zytoplasmatische Interaktion zwischen H19 und HIF1α führt zu einer Stabilisierung von p53. Dieser Mechanismus konnte auch in H19-/- Mäusen bestätigt werden, die nach AAA Induktion kein Aneurysma entwickelten. Zweitens konnte Lenvatinib sowohl bei systemischer, wie auch bei lokaler Applikation in Mäusen mit etabliertem AAA deren Wachstum signifikant einschränken. In einer Microarray Analyse wurde hier myosin heavy chain 11 (MYH11) als am deutlichsten verändertes Gen identifiziert. In primären humanen AAA Zellen war dies nach Lenvatinib Behandlung deutlich hochreguliert und deutet damit einen Erhalt des kontraktilen VSMC Phänotyps an. Der gleiche Effekt konnte im Großtiermodell nach lokaler endovaskulärer Behandlung mit einem Lenvatinib-coated balloon in einem neuen LDLR-/- Yucatan minipig Modell gezeigt werden. Reduzierte Phophorylierung von ERK1-2 ist das Ergebnis der Lenvatinib-spezifischen Blockade von vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR2). Schlussfolgerung: Zieht man die Heterogenität der Erkrankung AAA in Betracht, ist die Inhibition von VSMC Phänotyp Änderung, Remodelling der Matrix und Angiogenese möglicherweise ein guter Mechanismus um die Aneurysmen einiger Patienten zu behandeln. Diese neuen Ansätze werden möglicherweise in Kombination mit Überwachung und chirurgischer Therapie einen personalisierten Ansatz in der Therapie erlauben. KW - Aortenaneurysma KW - drug repurposing Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241356 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boulos, Joelle C. A1 - Saeed, Mohamed E. M. A1 - Chatterjee, Manik A1 - Bülbül, Yagmur A1 - Crudo, Francesco A1 - Marko, Doris A1 - Munder, Markus A1 - Klauck, Sabine M. A1 - Efferth, Thomas T1 - Repurposing of the ALK inhibitor crizotinib for acute leukemia and multiple myeloma cells JF - Pharmaceuticals N2 - Crizotinib was a first generation of ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of ALK-positive non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients. COMPARE and cluster analyses of transcriptomic data of the NCI cell line panel indicated that genes with different cellular functions regulated the sensitivity or resistance of cancer cells to crizotinib. Transcription factor binding motif analyses in gene promoters divulged two transcription factors possibly regulating the expression of these genes, i.e., RXRA and GATA1, which are important for leukemia and erythroid development, respectively. COMPARE analyses also implied that cell lines of various cancer types displayed varying degrees of sensitivity to crizotinib. Unexpectedly, leukemia but not lung cancer cells were the most sensitive cells among the different types of NCI cancer cell lines. Re-examining this result in another panel of cell lines indeed revealed that crizotinib exhibited potent cytotoxicity towards acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma cells. P-glycoprotein-overexpressing CEM/ADR5000 leukemia cells were cross-resistant to crizotinib. NCI-H929 multiple myeloma cells were the most sensitive cells. Hence, we evaluated the mode of action of crizotinib on these cells. Although crizotinib is a TKI, it showed highest correlation rates with DNA topoisomerase II inhibitors and tubulin inhibitors. The altered gene expression profiles after crizotinib treatment predicted several networks, where TOP2A and genes related to cell cycle were downregulated. Cell cycle analyses showed that cells incubated with crizotinib for 24 h accumulated in the G\(_2\)M phase. Crizotinib also increased the number of p-H3(Ser10)-positive NCI-H929 cells illustrating crizotinib's ability to prevent mitotic exit. However, cells accumulated in the sub-G\(_0\)G\(_1\) fraction with longer incubation periods, indicating apoptosis induction. Additionally, crizotinib disassembled the tubulin network of U2OS cells expressing an α-tubulin-GFP fusion protein, preventing migration of cancer cells. This result was verified by in vitro tubulin polymerization assays. In silico molecular docking also revealed a strong binding affinity of crizotinib to the colchicine and Vinca alkaloid binding sites. Taken together, these results demonstrate that crizotinib destabilized microtubules. Additionally, the decatenation assay showed that crizotinib partwise inhibited the catalytic activity of DNA topoisomerase II. In conclusion, crizotinib exerted kinase-independent cytotoxic effects through the dual inhibition of tubulin polymerization and topoisomerase II and might be used to treat not only NSCLC but also multiple myeloma. KW - acute myeloid leukemia KW - drug repurposing KW - multiple myeloma KW - network pharmacology KW - transcriptomics KW - tyrosine kinase inhibitors Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-250258 SN - 1424-8247 VL - 14 IS - 11 ER -