High-content analysis in preclinical drug discovery

High-Content Analysis (HCA) has developed into an established tool and is used in a wide range of academic laboratories and pharmaceutical research groups. HCA is now routinely proving to be effective in providing functionally relevant results. It is essential to select the appropriate HCA application with regard to the targeted compound's cellular function. The cellular impact and compound specificity as revealed by HCA analysis facilitates reaching definitive conclusions at an early stage in the drug discovery process. This technology therefore has the potential to substantially improve the efficiency of pharmaceutical research. Recent advances in fluorescent probes have significantly boosted the success of HCA. Auto-fluorescent proteins which minimally hinder the functioning of the living cell have been playing a decisive role in cell biology research. For companies the severely restricted license conditions regarding auto-fluorescent proteins hamper their general use in pharmaceutical research. This has opened the field for other solutions such as self-labeling protein technology, which could potentially replace the well established methods that utilize auto-fluorescent proteins. In addition, direct labeling techniques have improved considerably and may supersede many of the approaches based on fusion proteins. Following sample preparation, treated cells are imaged and the resulting multiple fluorescent signals are subjected to contextual and statistical analysis. The extraordinary advantage of HCA is that it enables the large-scale and simultaneous quantification and correlation of multiple phenotypic responses and physiological reactions using sophisticated software solutions that permit assay-specific image analysis. Hence, HCA once more has demonstrated its outstanding potential to significantly support establishing effective pharmaceutical research processes in order to both advance research projects and cut costs.     

Synthesis of 4‐(Isothiazol‐3‐yl)morpholines and 1‐(Isothiazol‐3‐yl)piperazines,and Their Inhibitory Activity towards Acetylcholinesterase

The synthesis of novel triaryl‐substituted 4‐(isothiazol‐3‐yl)morpholines 7 and 8 , and 1‐(isothiazol‐3‐yl)piperazines 9 – 13 by reaction of the corresponding isothiazolium salts 5 and 6 with secondary amines in the presence of t‐BuOK in absolute THF is described. Some representatives of the isothiazoles were evaluated as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase from Electrophorus electricus.     

Breast Cancer Stem Cell Potent Copper(II)–Non‐Steroidal Anti‐Inflammatory Drug Complexes

The breast cancer stem cell (CSC) potency of a series of copper(II)–phenanthroline complexes containing the nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug (NSAID), indomethacin, is reported. The most effective copper(II) complex in this series, 4 , selectivity kills breast CSC‐enriched HMLER‐shEcad cells over breast CSC‐depleted HMLER cells. Furthermore, 4 reduces the formation, size, and viability of mammospheres, to a greater extent than salinomycin, a potassium ionophore known to selectively inhibit CSCs. Mechanistic studies revealed that the CSC‐specificity observed for 4 arises from its ability to generate intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inhibit cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2), an enzyme that is overexpressed in breast CSCs. The former induces DNA damage, activates JNK and p38 pathways, and leads to apoptosis.     

Total synthesis of herbimycin A

[structure: see text] Hsp90 has recently emerged as a promising biological target for treatment of cancer. Herbimycin A and other members of the benzoquinoid ansamycin class of natural products are known to inhibit Hsp90 activity. The total synthesis of herbimycin A was achieved from the commercially available Roche ester 1 by using allylmetals to control the stereogenic centers at C6, C7, C10, C11, and C12 and a ring-closing metathesis to control the (Z)-double bond of the (E,Z)-dienic moiety.     

Highly enantioselective synthesis of beta-amino alcohols: a catalytic version

Highly enantioselective rearrangement of beta-amino alcohols was realized by using a catalytic amount of trifluoroacetic anhydride.     

Ring expansion of functionalized octahydroindoles to enantiopure cis-decahydroquinolines

A new synthetic entry to enantiopure cis-decahydroquinolines is reported. Endo and exo derivatives of cis-1-benzyl-2-(hydroxymethyl)octahydroindol-6-one ethylene acetal undergo ring enlargement upon treatment with TFAA and then Et3N (thermodynamic conditions) to give enantiopure 1-benzyl-3-hydroxydecahydroquinolin-7-one derivatives in 77 and 82% yield, respectively. For 2-(1-hydroxyethyl) analogues, the best synthetic result is obtained from the (2S,1'R) endo isomer, which under kinetic reaction conditions (MsCl, THF, -20 degrees C, then AgOAc at rt ) gives the expanded product in 54% yield.     

Foam films in the presence of functionalized gold nanoparticles

Dry aqueous foams made of anionic surfactant (SDS) and spherical gold nanoparticles are studied by small angle X-ray scattering and by optical techniques. To obtain stable foams, the surfactant concentration is well above the critical micelle concentration. The specular reflectivity signal obtained on a very thin film (thickness 20 nm) shows that functionalized nanoparticles (17 nm typical size) are trapped within the film in the form of a single monolayer. In order to isolate the film behavior, investigations are made on a single film confined in a tube. The film thinning according to the ratio of functionalized nanoparticle and SDS micelles (1:1, 1:10, 1:100) is mainly governed by the structural arrangement of SDS micelles. In thick films, nanoparticles tend to form aggregates that disappear during drainage. In particular self-organization of nanoparticles (with different surface charge) inside the film is not detected.     

A synthetic heparan sulfate-mimetic peptide conjugated to a mini CD4 displays very high anti- HIV-1 activity independently of coreceptor usage

The HIV-1 envelope gp120, which features both the virus receptor (CD4) and coreceptor (CCR5/CXCR4) binding sites, offers multiple sites for therapeutic intervention. However, the latter becomes exposed, thus vulnerable to inhibition, only transiently when the virus has already bound cellular CD4. To pierce this defense mechanism, we engineered a series of heparan sulfate mimicking tridecapeptides and showed that one of them target the gp120 coreceptor binding site with μM affinity. Covalently linked to a CD4-mimetic that binds to gp120 and renders the coreceptor binding domain available to be targeted, the conjugated tridecapeptide now displays nanomolar affinity for its target. Using solubilized coreceptors captured on top of sensorchip we show that it inhibits gp120 binding to both CCR5 and CXCR4 and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells broadly inhibits HIV-1 replication with an IC(50) of 1 nM.