Photoacoustic detection of metastatic melanoma cells in the human circulatory system

Detection of disseminating tumor cells among patients suffering from various types and stages of cancer can function as an early warning system, alerting the physician of the metastatic spread or recurrence of the disease. Early detection of such cells can result in preventative treatment of the disease, while late stage detection can serve as an indicator of the effectiveness of chemotherapeutics. The prognostic value of exposing disseminating tumor cells poses an urgent need for an efficient, accurate screening method for metastatic cells. We propose a system for the detection of metastatic circulating tumor cells based on the thermoelastic properties of melanoma. The method employs photoacoustic excitation coupled with a detection system capable of determining the presence of disseminating cells within the circulatory system in vitro. Detection trials consisting of tissue phantoms and a human melanoma cell line resulted in a detection threshold of the order of ten individual cells, thus validating the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism. Results imply the potential to assay simple blood draws, from healthy and metastatic patients, for the presence of cancerous melanoma providing an unprecedented method for routine cancer screening.     

Divergent synthesis of arylated pyridin-2(1H)-one derivatives via metal-catalysed cross-coupling processes

1,5-Di(hetero)arylated-pyridin-2(1H)-one derivatives have been readily obtained in good yields starting from 2-fluoro-5-pyridylboronic acid. The sequence comprises three steps: (i) palladium-catalysed Suzuki-Miyaura reaction; (ii) base-catalysed hydrolysis; (iii) copper-catalysed C-N coupling. X-ray crystal structures are reported for selected pyridin-2(1H)-one derivatives. These compounds are of interest as new scaffolds for drug discovery.     

EQUIP: a worldwide program to ensure the quality of urinary iodine procedures

In 2001 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established a program, Ensuring the Quality of Urinary Iodine Procedures (EQUIP); to assist laboratories around the world and assess the accuracy of their urinary iodine (UI). CDC designed EQUIP to issue unknown specimens to participating laboratories three times per year. Each laboratory was asked to analyze unknown samples in duplicate on three different days. During the first five rounds of EQUIP, 41 laboratories participated, measuring unknown samples and reporting their results to CDC. CDC used these results to prepare a statistical report for the laboratories. Feedback to the laboratories provided external confirmation regarding performance. As a group, laboratory performance improved; several laboratories made considerable improvement. Several laboratories that showed no improvement have ordered new equipment or are arranging for additional training. EQUIP is a key tool used to support laboratory quality assurance in an effort to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) in the world.

LAMP/FILTER SYSTEMS FOR SIMULATION OF SOLAR UV IRRADIANCE UNDER REDUCED ATMOSPHERIC OZONE*

Abstract— Lamp/filter systems for simulation of solar ultraviolet irradiance corresponding to various degrees of stratospheric ozone decrease are described for use in field and growth-chamber biological experiments. In growth-chamber applications, a constant ultraviolet enhancement simulation can be achieved with a 6000 W xenon arc with glass filters. For field applications, Westinghouse FS-40 ‘sun lamps’ filtered with plastic films provide an ultraviolet supplement for use when solar altitudes exceed 40°.     

Cone voltage induced in-source dissociation of glucuronides in electrospray and implications in biological analyses

Glucuronidation is a common mechanism in drug metabolism. In-source dissociation of glucuronides in electrospray generates fragment ions identical to those of the precursor ions of the original drugs. The effect of experimental parameters on the process was investigated in the present study using both commercially available compounds and glucuronides generated from microsomal glucuronidation incubations. It was found that cone voltage was the most critical parameter contributing to in-source fragmentation of both O- and N-glucuronides, whereas both the desolvation temperature and the source temperature had little effect. Additionally, the extent of in-source dissociation varied for different glucuronides and could be minimized by lowering cone voltage. As demonstrated in real examples, minimizing in-source dissociation can lead to higher sensitivity in detecting glucuronides in biological samples. In addition, product ions resulting from in-source dissociation of glucuronides potentially interfere with accurate determinations of corresponding drug levels if chromatographic separation is not adequate. For cases in which chromatographic separation of glucuronides from the original drugs is not readily achieved or high-throughput analyses are desired, interference caused by in-source dissociation can usually be eliminated simply by using lower cone voltage. This approach has been proven to be effective in the analysis of more than 100 glucuronides generated from in vitro microsomal incubations.     

A point-charge force field for molecular mechanics simulations of proteins based on condensed-phase quantum mechanical calculations

Molecular mechanics models have been applied extensively to study the dynamics of proteins and nucleic acids. Here we report the development of a third-generation point-charge all-atom force field for proteins. Following the earlier approach of Cornell et al., the charge set was obtained by fitting to the electrostatic potentials of dipeptides calculated using B3LYP/cc-pVTZ//HF/6-31G** quantum mechanical methods. The main-chain torsion parameters were obtained by fitting to the energy profiles of Ace-Ala-Nme and Ace-Gly-Nme di-peptides calculated using MP2/cc-pVTZ//HF/6-31G** quantum mechanical methods. All other parameters were taken from the existing AMBER data base. The major departure from previous force fields is that all quantum mechanical calculations were done in the condensed phase with continuum solvent models and an effective dielectric constant of epsilon = 4. We anticipate that this force field parameter set will address certain critical short comings of previous force fields in condensed-phase simulations of proteins. Initial tests on peptides demonstrated a high-degree of similarity between the calculated and the statistically measured Ramanchandran maps for both Ace-Gly-Nme and Ace-Ala-Nme di-peptides. Some highlights of our results include (1) well-preserved balance between the extended and helical region distributions, and (2) favorable type-II poly-proline helical region in agreement with recent experiments. Backward compatibility between the new and Cornell et al. charge sets, as judged by overall agreement between dipole moments, allows a smooth transition to the new force field in the area of ligand-binding calculations. Test simulations on a large set of proteins are also discussed.     

Antineoplastic activity of polyaspartamide–ferrocene conjugates

The ferrocene/ferricenium redox system plays a significant role in biological oxidation, reduction and free-radical reactions. Of particular interest are the findings of earlier investigations which showed certain water-soluble ferricenium salts to possess appreciable antiproliferative activity against various murine tumor lines and a xenografted human colorectal adenocarcinoma. Solubility in water, a prerequisite for efficacious transport and dissipation in central circulation, was then proposed as a principal requirement for the ferrocene complex system to exert antineoplastic activity irrespective of the oxidation state in which it is administered. In order to shed more light on this question, we decided to investigate the antiproliferative properties of polymer–ferrocene conjugates containing the metal complex in the non-oxidized (ferrocene) form while fulfilling the critical requirement of water solubility. To this end, five selected, water-soluble conjugates, synthesized by reversible coupling of 4-ferrocenylbutanoic acid to variously structured polyaspartamides featuring pendant primary amino groups as coupling sites, were tested in vitro against cultured HeLa cells at concentrations up to 50 µg Fe ml⁻¹. Optimal antiproliferative activities, with IC₅₀ in the range of 2–7 µg Fe ml⁻¹, were determined for three compounds possessing tertiary-amine functions susceptible to protonation at physiological pH. Lower activities (IC₅₀ = 45–60 µg Fe ml⁻¹) were demonstrated for two poly(ethylene oxide)-containing conjugates. However, no reasonable structure–performance relationships can be derived at this stage from the small number of compounds tested. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carrier polymers for cisplatin-type anticancer drug models

Following a brief discussion of the concept of polymer–drug conjugation and the use of platinum drugs in cancer therapy, the paper presents recent results in the synthesis of water-soluble polymeric carriers designed for the binding of antineoplastic coordination compounds of the cisplatin type. The target polymers, specifically, are linear aliphatic polyamides comprising the ethylenediamine ligand system in the main chain as the potential metal binding site. With solubility in aqueous media a key requirement for intravenously injectable conjugates, the polymers also contain hydrosolubilizing oligo(ethylene oxide) units in the chain, which serve the additional purpose of imparting resistance to serum protein binding and capture by the reticuloendothelial system. The synthesis methods include interfacial polymerization, high-temperature solution polycondensation in polyphosphoric acid and Michael addition polymerization, with 1,2-bis(2-aminoethylamino)ethane and 1,2-bis(3-aminopropylamino)ethane used as the amine comonomers providing the ethylenediamine ligand segment. The target polymers, crudely fractionated by dialysis in 25,000 molecular-mass cult-off tubing, are isolated by freeze-drying as water-soluble solids possessing inherent viscosities of 10–20 ml/g. A selected carrier polymer is converted to the corresponding water-soluble cis-diaminedichloroplatinum(II) conjugate by treatment with tetrachloroplatinate(II) anion in aqueous solution.