Chitosan nanoparticles crosslinked by glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane for pH triggered release of protein

pH-responsive-chitosan nanoparticles for the control release of protein drug were prepared by combining two-step crosslinking method,in which chitosan was subsequently crosslinked by sodium tripolyphosphate(TPP)and glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS).Compared with TPP crosslinked chitosan particles,the two-step crosslinked nanoparticles were not only pH-responsive but also more stable in wide pH range.Fluorescein isothiocyanate(FITC)labeled anti-human-IgG antibody was used as a model protein drug for...     

Method to assess packing quality of transmembrane alpha-helices in proteins. 1. Parametrization using structural data

Integral membrane proteins (MPs) are pharmaceutical targets of exceptional importance. Modern methods of three-dimensional protein structure determination often fail to supply the fast growing field of structure-based drug design with the requested MPs' structures. That is why computational modeling techniques gain a special importance for these objects. Among the principal difficulties limiting application of these methods is the low quality of the MPs' models built in silico. In this series of two papers we present a computational approach to the assessment of the packing "quality" of transmembrane (TM) alpha-helical domains in proteins. The method is based on the concept of protein environment classes, whereby each amino acid residue is described in terms of its environment polarity and accessibility to the membrane. In the first paper we analyze a nonredundant set of 26 TM alpha-helical domains and compute the residues' propensities to five predefined classes of membrane-protein environments. Here we evaluate the proposed approach only by various test sets, cross-validation protocols and ability of the method to delimit the crystal structure of visual rhodopsin, and a number of its erroneous theoretical models. More advanced validation of the method is given in the second article of this series. We assume that the developed "membrane score" method will be helpful in optimizing computer models of TM domains of MPs, especially G-protein coupled receptors.     

药物的聚乙二醇修饰研究进展

简要介绍了聚乙二醇(polyethylene glycol, PEG)的生理化学特性, 药物的聚乙二醇修饰的优势, 详细介绍了蛋白质药物和小分子药物的聚乙二醇修饰技术及其在药物研究中的应用进展, 认为药物的聚乙二醇修饰技术通过改变药物的分子结构, 可以有效地改善药物动力学和药效等性质, 增加注射药物的临床应用范围. 同时基于药物的聚乙二醇修饰技术的优势和研究现状, 评述了药物的聚乙二醇修饰技术的发展前景.     

Controlling the Stealth Effect of Nanocarriers through Understanding the Protein Corona

The past decade has seen a significant increase in interest in the use of polymeric nanocarriers in medical applications. In particular, when used as drug vectors in targeted delivery, nanocarriers could overcome many obstacles for drug therapy. Nevertheless, their application is still impeded by the complex composition of the blood proteins covering the particle surface, termed the protein corona. The protein corona complicates any prediction of cell interactions, biodistribution, and toxicity. In particular, the unspecific uptake of nanocarriers is a major obstacle in clinical studies. This Minireview provides an overview of what we currently know about the characteristics of the protein corona of nanocarriers, with a focus on surface functionalization that reduces unspecific uptake (the stealth effect). The ongoing improvement of nanocarriers to allow them to meet all the requirements necessary for successful application, including targeted delivery and stealth, are further discussed.     

High-throughput screening of protein binding by equilibrium dialysis combined with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry

A new approach for screening plasma protein binding is presented. The method is based on equilibrium dialysis combined with rapid generic LC-MS bioanalysis by using a sample pooling approach enabling high-throughput screening of protein binding in the drug discovery phase. The method is evaluated by a comparison of measured unbound free fractions f(u) (%) between single and pooled compounds for a test set of structurally diverse compounds with a wide range of unbound fractions. Test compounds include 1 acidic and 10 basic drug standards along with 36 new chemical entities. A good correlation (R2>0.95) of f(u) (%) between the single and pooled compounds is found, suggesting that at least 10 compounds can be simultaneously measured with acceptable accuracy. A simplified drug-protein binding model is applied to calculate the f(u) (%) of drugs at various drug and protein concentrations and this is applied to elucidate the applicability of the sample pooling approach from a theoretical standpoint. Moreover, pH shifts in the plasma were observed after dialysis when using different types of buffers and the impact of that on the f(u) is illustrated in association with their physicochemical properties, in particular the ionization state of compounds by the profile of effective mobility as a function of pH. A new buffer is proposed being able to minimize the pH shift of plasma during the dialysis. In addition, the application of the proposed buffer does not necessarily require adjusting plasma pH before the dialysis and utilizing a CO2 incubator during the dialysis. The effect of the ionic strengths of different buffers on MS signals is investigated with regard to ion suppression. The sample pooling method not only significantly reduces the plasma volume required but also the number of bioanalysis samples as compared to the single compound measurements by a conventional approach. The new proposed approach is especially beneficial for measuring in vitro protein binding in matrices such as mouse plasma where plasma is available only in limited amounts. The current new development will facilitate the drug discovery process by more rapidly assessing the protein binding potential of drug candidates.     

高效前沿分析的发展及在药物-蛋白结合研究中的应用

介绍了高效前沿分析方法的原理、特点、种类，综述了它在药物与蛋白结合研究中的应用及国内外研究概况；通过与高效液相色谱／前沿分析比较，阐明了毛细管电泳／前沿分析在药物蛋白结合研究中的优势；分析了在药物与蛋白结合研究中所采用的各种研究方法，通过与这些研究方法的比较，阐明了高效前沿分析的优越性及其广阔的应用前景，同时提出了在高效前沿分析方法中有待完善和注意的问题。     

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of fatty acid binding proteins in rat liver with fluorescence detection.

A highly sensitive, simple and reproducible method for the quantitative determination of fatty acid binding protein in rat liver by post-column high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection is presented. Fatty acid binding protein in rat liver cytosols is separated by gel-permeation column chromatography, which is followed by fluorescence detection. The detection makes use of the fluorescence enhancement observed when a fluorescent fatty acid probe, dansylundecanoic acid, binds to fatty acid binding protein. The method is rapid, simple to perform and highly sensitive. The method was applied to the determination of fatty acid binding protein in liver from control and hypolipidaemic drug treated rats.     

基于质谱技术蛋白质定量方法的研究进展

质谱技术已经成为目前蛋白质鉴定的重要工具。定量分析细胞内蛋白质组的动态变化,是当前研究蛋白质功能、揭示细胞生物机理、寻找疾病蛋白标记物和药物靶标的迫切需要。本文综述了基于质谱技术蛋白质定量的策略、方法和应用等方面近年来的进展,评述了几种蛋白质质谱定量方法的特点和应用潜力。     

毛细管电泳用于药物分析的研究进展

药物分析是毛细管电泳（CE）的重要应用领域,所有CE分离模式与检测方法都在各种药物及其不同形式样品的分离分析中显示出特色和应用能力。该文从药品分析领域中的小分子药物（包括手性药物）及其有关物质、中药与天然产物、体内药物分析、生物制品药物分析等几个方面,综述了近几年CE在这些传统药物分析领域应用的研究进展。限于篇幅,未包括现代药物分析研究比较活跃的理化常数测定、亲和毛细管电泳与结合常数研究（药物与受体间的相互作用等）、临床生物标志物分析、代谢组学和微流控芯片CE分析等方面的内容。根据目前传统药物分析领域的发展,该文关注到近期CE在顺应药物分析的法规需求、电容耦合非接触电导检测（CE-C⁴ D）、改进检测灵敏度与精密度、CE-十二烷基硫酸钠（SDS）毛细管电泳、全柱成像毛细管等电聚焦（icIEF）、抗体分析等方面的新进展。该文结合文献,讨论了目前传统药物分析领域的需求,以及CE在其中的地位、挑战和机遇。对目前CE主要作为互补分析方法在化学药和中药分析中的应用研究提出了一些针对性的建议,期待CE在生物制品分析中的特色和能力得到进一步的发挥,同时提出CE-MS和对CE分析重复性改进等新进展可能对未来CE应用领域的大幅度扩展。该综述主要涉及近3年（2017年1月到2020年2月）及部分2016年的相关文献。     

Preparation of protein microcapsules with narrow size distribution by sonochemical method

Protein microcapsules with narrow size distribution have been prepared by sonochemical method which is a simple, fast, environmental friendly and cost-effective method. The prepared microcapsules are composed of a water-insoluble core and an outer protein shell. The hydrophobic drugs could be encapsulated into protein microcapsules directly via sonochemical method by dissolving drugs in the nontoxic and edible vegetable oil before ultrasonication, which is a potential solution for drug resistance by hiding cytotoxic drugs in the carrier and allows for the delivery of high doses in relatively small volume. The size and size distribution of protein microcapsules are very important for their practical application. In this paper, the factors affecting the size and size distribution of protein microcapsules are investigated in detail. Moreover, confocal laser scanning microscopy and transmission electron microscopy confirmed that the protein microcapsules with narrow size distribution were obtained.     

Yolk‐Shell Porous Microspheres of Calcium Phosphate Prepared by Using Calcium L‐Lactate and Adenosine 5′‐Triphosphate Disodium Salt: Application in Protein/Drug Delivery

A facile and environmentally friendly approach has been developed to prepare yolk‐shell porous microspheres of calcium phosphate by using calcium L ‐lactate pentahydrate (CL) as the calcium source and adenosine 5′‐triphosphate disodium salt (ATP) as the phosphate source through the microwave‐assisted hydrothermal method. The effects of the concentration of CL, the microwave hydrothermal temperature, and the time on the morphology and crystal phase of the product are investigated. The possible formation mechanism of yolk‐shell porous microspheres of calcium phosphate is proposed. Hemoglobin from bovine red cells (Hb) and ibuprofen (IBU) are used to explore the application potential of yolk‐shell porous microspheres of calcium phosphate in protein/drug loading and delivery. The experimental results indicate that the as‐prepared yolk‐shell porous microspheres of calcium phosphate have relatively high protein/drug loading capacity, sustained protein/drug release, favorable pH‐responsive release behavior, and a high biocompatibility in the cytotoxicity test. Therefore, the yolk‐shell porous microspheres of calcium phosphate have promising applications in various biomedical fields such as protein/drug delivery.     

基于生物大分子的纳米药物载体

生物大分子材料由于其可再生性、无毒性以及良好的生物相容性、生物可降解性和黏膜粘附性等特点成为药物载体研究的热点,尤其是将其作为纳米药物载体材料更加受人关注。本文首先对生物大分子纳米颗粒常用的制备方法--乳化法、自组装法和离子凝聚法进行了详细的介绍。由于乳化法在一定程度上破坏了生物大分子的生物相容性,因此自组装法和离子凝聚法是比较理想的制备方法。其中自组装法是利用两亲性的生物大分子,如蛋白质、多糖衍生物等在静电作用、疏水作用、范德华力等非键合作用力下组装成纳米结构;而离子凝聚法则是利用聚电解质与带相反电荷物质之间的静电作用形成纳米结构。接着本文对通过这些方法获得的生物大分子纳米颗粒作为蛋白类药物、抗癌药物以及基因药物的载体在近年来的研究进展进行了归纳和总结,结果显示其在药物缓释体系中具有广阔的应用前景。     

Determination of binding constants and stoichiometries for platinum anticancer drugs and serum transport proteins by capillary electrophoresis using the Hummel-Dreyer method

A CE method has been developed to evidence and quantitatively characterize the interaction between platinum-based antitumor drugs and human serum proteins. This method is a variant of affinity CE modified regarding both experimental setup and data treatment so as to measure the peaks (or vacancies) that correspond to the bound drug when it slowly binds to the protein. Using the formalism of the Hummel-Dreyer method and cisplatin and oxaliplatin as test compounds, a protocol for determining albumin and transferrin binding constants and stoichiometries, including (and distinguished by) 48 hours of incubation of the reaction mixture, was elaborated. Relative affinities of drugs toward different proteins in aqueous solution at physiological pH, chloride concentration, and temperature were compared in terms of overall binding constants and numbers of drug molecules attached to the protein. The results indicate that both platinum drugs bind to albumin more strongly than to transferrin, supporting the concept that the albumin fraction is a major drug supply route for chemotherapeutical needs. From a comparison with the binding parameters measured previously for cisplatin by other methods, conclusions were drawn about the validity of CE as a simple and convenient method for assaying protein-drug reactions with slow kinetics.     

Computational discovery of picomolar Q(o) site inhibitors of cytochrome bc1 complex

A critical challenge to the fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) is its low-throughput nature due to the necessity of biophysical method-based fragment screening. Herein, a method of pharmacophore-linked fragment virtual screening (PFVS) was successfully developed. Its application yielded the first picomolar-range Q(o) site inhibitors of the cytochrome bc(1) complex, an important membrane protein for drug and fungicide discovery. Compared with the original hit compound 4 (K(i) = 881.80 nM, porcine bc(1)), the most potent compound 4f displayed 20?507-fold improved binding affinity (K(i) = 43.00 pM). Compound 4f was proved to be a noncompetitive inhibitor with respect to the substrate cytochrome c, but a competitive inhibitor with respect to the substrate ubiquinol. Additionally, we determined the crystal structure of compound 4e (K(i) = 83.00 pM) bound to the chicken bc(1) at 2.70 ? resolution, providing a molecular basis for understanding its ultrapotency. To our knowledge, this study is the first application of the FBDD method in the discovery of picomolar inhibitors of a membrane protein. This work demonstrates that the novel PFVS approach is a high-throughput drug discovery method, independent of biophysical screening techniques.     

卷烟纸中CaCO3的定量方法比较及形貌表征研究

分别采用煅烧法、电位滴定法及络合滴定法定量测定3种卷烟纸中CaCO3的含量,发现煅烧温度和时间对煅烧法的测定结果影响很大,当煅烧温度为900 ℃,煅烧2 h时卷烟纸中的纤维可完全氧化分解;电位滴定法和络合滴定法的结果具有较高的稳定性,但卷烟纸中的金属氧化物和碳酸盐易给电位滴定法带来误差,络合滴定法通过遮蔽剂可消除杂质离子的影响,具有较高的准确性。对3种卷烟纸灰分的XPS分析结果表明,灰分中除CaO外,还含有C、Na2CO3、Na2SiO3、Na3PO4、CaSiO3、Ca3(PO4)2等物质;SEM分析结果表明CaCO3呈纺锤状微晶和团簇状体分布在纤维中。该研究结果提供了一种比较准确的定量测定纸张中CaCO3含量的方法。     

Conserved core substructures in the overlay of protein-ligand complexes

The method of conserved core substructure matching (CSM) for the overlay of protein-ligand complexes is described. The method relies upon distance geometry to align structurally similar substructures without regard to sequence similarity onto substructures from a reference protein empirically selected to include key determinants of binding site location and geometry. The error in ligand position is reduced in reoriented ensembles generated with CSM when compared to other overlay methods. Since CSM can only succeed when the selected core substructure is geometrically conserved, misalignments only rarely occur. The method may be applied to reliably overlay large numbers of protein-ligand complexes in a way that optimizes ligand position at a specific binding site or subsite or to align structures from large and diverse protein families where the conserved binding site is localized to only a small portion of either protein. Core substructures may be complex and must be chosen with care. We have created a database of empirically selected core substructures to demonstrate the utility of CSM alignment of ligand binding sites in important drug targets. A Web-based interface can be used to apply CSM to align large collections of protein-ligand complexes for use in drug design using these substructures or to evaluate the use of alternative core substructures that may then be shared with the larger user community. Examples show the benefit of CSM in the practice of structure-based drug design.     

Schrödinger药物虚拟筛选流程模块在大学生物和化学信息学教学中的应用

介绍了Schr?dinger药物虚拟筛选的基本原理和流程,结合大学生物和化学信息学课程的相关教学内容,分别描述了蛋白受体的预处理、类药性五原则、毒药物动力学(ADME)、泛筛选干扰化合物(PAINS)、高通量虚拟筛选、标准精度筛选、高精度筛选和MM/GBSA的打分排序原理和使用方法。该软件可以在大学生物和化学信息学的教学中演示,有助于提高学生对蛋白结构、分子构象、药物虚拟筛选和计算机辅助分子设计的理解,该软件有很好的图形界面,可以给学生直观的体验,大大丰富了大学课堂的教学内容。此外,该软件在药物设计领域里面也有很好的应用价值,大大节约了药物筛选的成本,提高了药物发现的效率。     

Enzymatic Prenylation and Oxime Ligation for the Synthesis of Stable and Homogeneous Protein–Drug Conjugates for Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy based on protein–drug conjugates has attracted significant attention owing to its high efficacy and low side effects. However, efficient and stable drug conjugation to a protein binder remains a challenge. Herein, a chemoenzymatic method to generate highly stable and homogenous drug conjugates with high efficiency is presented. The approach comprises the insertion of the CaaX sequence at the C‐terminal end of the protein binder, prenylation using farnesyltransferase, and drug conjugation through an oxime ligation reaction. MMAF and an EGFR‐specific repebody are used as the antitumor agent and protein binder, respectively. The method enables the precisely controlled synthesis of repebody–drug conjugates with high yield and homogeneity. The utility of this approach is illustrated by the notable stability of the repebody–drug conjugates in human plasma, negligible off‐target effects, and a remarkable antitumor activity in vivo. The present method can be widely used for generating highly homogeneous and stable PDCs for targeted therapy.     

Developing drug literatures. 1. Bibliometrics of baclofen and dantrolene sodium.

The literatures of two antispastic drugs, baclofen and dantrolene sodium, were studied bibliometrically for their first decade and were found to be generally similar. Baclofen had 93 papers and dantrolene sodium had 70. About a quarter of the baclofen papers were in a foreign language, whereas almost all dantrolene sodium papers were in English. Baclofen literature had a lower nonscholarly content, but the scholarly increase, 5%, was the same for both. Both drugs had an average of 12 references per paper. The literatures of both drugs had a similar degree of internal cohesiveness; almost half of their papers referred to other papers in the same drug collection. The first human paper for baclofen was the second published; for dantrolene sodium, it was the eleventh. The distribution of journals carrying papers on each of these drugs followed Bradford's law. Two authors per paper was the average for each drug. The productivity of authors approximated Lotka's law for both drugs. About two-thirds of the papers of both drugs had a drug-word in their titles. The literature of both drugs contained about 15% legendary papers, typical of clinical pharmacology. The most intense papers, 15 for baclofen and 11 for dantrolene sodium, were identified, using citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation frequencies. A generalization predicts what might be expected from the literature of future antispastic drugs.     

Quantification of Structural Integrity and Stability Using Nanograms of Protein by Flow-Induced Dispersion Analysis

In the development of therapeutic proteins, analytical assessment of structural stability and integrity constitutes an important activity, as protein stability and integrity influence drug efficacy, and ultimately patient safety. Existing analytical methodologies solely rely on relative changes in optical properties such as fluorescence or scattering upon thermal or chemical perturbation. Here, we present an absolute analytical method for assessing protein stability, structure, and unfolding utilizing Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA) and LED-UV fluorescence detection. The developed TDA method measures the change in size (hydrodynamic radius) and intrinsic fluorescence of a protein during in-line denaturation with guanidinium hydrochloride (GuHCl). The conformational stability of the therapeutic antibody adalimumab and human serum albumin were characterized as a function of pH. The simple workflow and low sample consumption (40 ng protein per data point) of the methodology make it ideal for assessing protein characteristics related to stability in early drug development or when having a scarce amount of sample available.