New In Vitro-In Silico Approach for the Prediction of In Vivo Performance of Drug Combinations

Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies improve the design of dosing regimens in preclinical and clinical settings. In complex diseases like cancer, single-agent approaches are often insufficient for an effective treatment, and drug combination therapies can be implemented. In this work, in silico PK models were developed based on in vitro assays results, with the goal of predicting the in vivo performance of drug combinations in the context of cancer therapy. Combinations of reference drugs for cancer treatment, gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and repurposed drugs itraconazole, verapamil or tacrine, were evaluated in vitro. Then, two-compartment PK models were developed based on the previous in vitro studies and on the PK profile reported in the literature for human patients. Considering the quantification parameter area under the dose-response-time curve (AUC_effect) for the combinations effect, itraconazole was the most effective in combination with either reference anticancer drugs. In addition, cell growth inhibition was itraconazole-dose dependent and an increase in effect was predicted if itraconazole administration was continued (24-h dosing interval). This work demonstrates that in silico methods and AUC_effect are powerful tools to study relationships between tissue drug concentration and the percentage of cell growth inhibition over time.     

Determination of ethyl glucuronide in hair samples by liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

A method for the determination of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in hair samples, using liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS), was developed and validated. The treatment of hair samples was as follows: to 100 mg of washed (dichloromethane followed by methanol, 1 ml each) and cut (1-2 mm) material, 700 microl of water, 20 microl of internal standard solution (pentadeuterated EtG, D(5)-EtG, 500 microg/l) and 20 microl of methanol were added. Samples were incubated at 25 degrees C overnight and then ultrasonicated for 2 h. Finally, 8 microl of the centrifuged solution (13,000 rpm) were analyzed by LC/ESI-MS/MS in negative ion mode. The surviving ions of EtG and D(5)-EtG were monitored together with the following MRM transitions: m/z 221 --> 75, m/z 221 --> 85 (EtG) and m/z 226 --> 75, m/z 226 --> 85 (D(5)-EtG). The method exhibited a mean correlation coefficient better than 0.9998 over the dynamic range (3-2000 pg/mg). The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) and the limit of detection (LOD) were 3 and 2 pg/mg respectively. The intra- and interday precision and accuracy were studied at four different concentration levels (3, 5, 56 and 160 pg/mg) and were always better than 7% (n = 5). Matrix effects did not exceed 20%. The method was applied to several hair samples taken from autopsies of known alcoholics, from patients in withdrawal treatment, from social drinkers, from adult teetotalers and from children not exposed to ethanol, with EtG concentrations globally ranging from < or =2 to 4180 pg/mg.     

Comparison of ultra-performance liquid chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of priority pesticides in baby foods by tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry

Determination of 16 priority pesticides and transformation products specified in the EU Baby Food Directive 2003/13/EC has been compared using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Prior to analysis, co-extractives were removed from acetonitrile extracts using dispersive solid-phase extraction (SPE) with primary secondary amine (50 mg). Extracts spiked with pesticides at 1 microg kg(-1) yielded average recoveries in the range 85-119%, with relative standard deviations less than 17%. The HPLC-MS/MS and UPLC-MS/MS multi-residue methods developed are simple, rapid and suitable for the quantification and confirmation of the 16 priority pesticides in fruit-, potato- and cereal-based baby food at 1 microg kg(-1). The major advantages of UPLC, using 1.7 microm particles, over HPLC are the speed of analysis, the narrower peaks (giving increased signal-to-noise ratio) and improved confirmation for the targeted pesticides in the analyses of baby foods.     

Auto-assembling of ditopic macrocyclic lanthanide chelates with transition-metal ions. Rigid multimetallic high relaxivity contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging

PhenHDO3A is a ditopic ligand featuring a tetraazacyclododecane unit substituted by three acetate arms and one 6-hydroxy-5,6-dihydro-1,10-phenanthroline group (PhenHDO3A = rel-10-[(5R,6R)-5,6-dihydro-6-hydroxy-1,10-phenantholin-5-yl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7-triacetic acid). This ligand was specially designed so as to obtain highly stable heteropolymetallic assemblies. PhenHDO3A has been prepared starting from phenanthroline epoxide and either a triprotected tetraazacyclododecane or tert-butyl triester of N,N',N' '-tetraazacyclododecane-triacetic acid. The latter yields PhenHDO3A in a single step. PhenHDO3A forms kinetically stable lanthanide complexes (acid-catalyzed kinetic constant kH = (1.2 +/- 0.2) x 10(-3) s(-1) M(-1)) whose solution structure has been deduced from a quantitative analysis of the paramagnetic shifts and the longitudinal relaxation times of the proton nuclei of YbPhenHDO3A. The alcohol group of the dihydro-phenanthroline unit remains coordinated to the encapsulated metal ion despite the steric crowding brought about by this group. Furthermore, the complexes are monohydrated, as shown by luminescence lifetime measurements on EuPhenHDO3A solutions. Relaxivity titrations at 20 MHz clearly indicate that the phenanthroline unit of GdPhenHDO3A is available for the spontaneous formation of highly stable tris complexes with the Fe2+ and Ni2+ ions. The water-exchange times and the rotational correlation times of GdPhenHDO3A and Fe(GdPhenHDO3A)32+ have been deduced from variable temperature 17O NMR studies and from nuclear relaxation dispersion curves. Despite rather slow water-exchange rates (taum0 = 1.0-1.2 x 10(-6) s), relaxivity gains of 90% have been observed upon the formation of the heterometallic tris complexes. The latter rotate about four times more slowly (taur0= 398 ps) than the monomeric unit (taur0 = 105 ps) and their relaxivity is, accordingly, twice as high. The relaxivity of the tris complexes between 10 and 50 MHz is comparable to relaxivities reported for Gd3+-containing dendrimers of much higher molecular weights. The high relaxivity of the tris-PhenHDO3A lanthanide complexes is attributed to their internal rigidity.     

The general gould type integral with respect to a multisubmeasure

In two earlier papers [GAVRILUŢ, A.: A Gould type integral with respect to a multisubmeasure, Math. Slovaca 58 (2008), 1–20] and [Gavriluţ, A.: On some properties of the Gould type integral with respect to a multisubmeasure, An. Ştiinţ. Univ. Al. I. Cuza Iaşi. Mat. (N.S.) 52 (2006), 177–194], we defined and studied a Gould type integral for a real valued, bounded function with respect to a multisubmeasure having finite variation. In this paper, we introduce and study the properties of a Gould type integral in the general setting: the function may be unbounded and the variation of the multisubmeasure may be infinite.     

Understanding ligand–protein interactions in affinity membrane chromatography for antibody purification

Affinity chromatography with Protein A beads has become the conventional unit operation for the primary capture of monoclonal antibodies. However, Protein A activated supports are expensive and ligand leakage is an issue to be considered. In addition, the limited production capabilities of the chromatographic process drive the research towards feasible alternatives. The use of synthetic ligands as Protein A substitutes has been considered in this work. Synthetic ligands, that mimic the interaction between Protein A and the constant fragment (Fc) of immunoglobulins, have been immobilized on cellulosic membrane supports. The resulting affinity membranes have been experimentally characterized with pure immunoglobulin G (IgG). The effects of the membrane support and of the spacer arm on the ligand–ligate interaction have been studied in detail. Experimental data have been compared with molecular dynamic simulations with the aim of better understanding the interaction mechanisms. Molecular dynamic simulations were performed in explicit water, modelling the membrane as a matrix of overlapped glucopyranose units. Electrostatic charges of the ligand and spacer were calculated through ab initio methods to complete the force field used to model the membrane. The simulations enabled to elucidate how the interactions of surface, spacer and ligand with IgG, contribute to the formation of the bond between protein and affinity membrane.