| 1. |
- Prieto, P., et al.
(författare)
-
The value of selected in vitro and in silico methods to predict acute oral toxicity in a regulatory context : Results from the European Project ACuteTox
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Toxicology in Vitro. - : Elsevier BV. - 0887-2333 .- 1879-3177. ; 27:4, s. 1357-1376
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ACuteTox is a project within the 6th European Framework Programme which had as one of its goals to develop, optimise and prevalidate a non-animal testing strategy for predicting human acute oral toxicity. In its last 6 months, a challenging exercise was conducted to assess the predictive capacity of the developed testing strategies and final identification of the most promising ones. Thirty-two chemicals were tested blind in the battery of in vitro and in silico methods selected during the first phase of the project. This paper describes the classification approaches studied: single step procedures and two step tiered testing strategies. In summary, four in vitro testing strategies were proposed as best performing in terms of predictive capacity with respect to the European acute oral toxicity classification. In addition, a heuristic testing strategy is suggested that combines the prediction results gained from the neutral red uptake assay performed in 3T3 cells, with information on neurotoxicity alerts identified by the primary rat brain aggregates test method. Octanol-water partition coefficients and in silico prediction of intestinal absorption and blood-brain barrier passage are also considered. This approach allows to reduce the number of chemicals wrongly predicted as not classified (LD50 > 2000 mg/kg b.w.).
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Gad, Helge, et al.
(författare)
-
MTH1 inhibition eradicates cancer by preventing sanitation of the dNTP pool
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 508:7495, s. 215-221
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cancers have dysfunctional redox regulation resulting in reactive oxygen species production, damaging both DNA and free dNTPs. The MTH1 protein sanitizes oxidized dNTP pools to prevent incorporation of damaged bases during DNA replication. Although MTH1 is non-essential in normal cells, we show that cancer cells require MTH1 activity to avoid incorporation of oxidized dNTPs, resulting in DNA damage and cell death. We validate MTH1 as an anticancer target in vivo and describe small molecules TH287 and TH588 as first-in-class nudix hydrolase family inhibitors that potently and selectively engage and inhibit the MTH1 protein in cells. Protein co-crystal structures demonstrate that the inhibitors bindin the active site of MTH1. The inhibitors cause incorporation of oxidized dNTPs in cancer cells, leading to DNA damage, cytotoxicity and therapeutic responses in patient-derived mouse xenografts. This study exemplifies the non-oncogene addiction concept for anticancer treatment and validates MTH1 as being cancer phenotypic lethal.
|
|
| 4. |
- Neve, Etienne P. A., et al.
(författare)
-
An Integrated in Vitro Model for Simultaneous Assessment of Drug Uptake, Metabolism, and Efflux
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Molecular Pharmaceutics. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1543-8384 .- 1543-8392. ; 10:8, s. 3152-3163
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) of drugs in vivo are to a large extent dependent on different transport and metabolism routes. Elucidation of this complex transport-metabolism interplay is a major challenge in drug development and at present no in vitro models suitable for this purpose are at hand. The aim of this study was to develop flexible, well-controlled, easy-to-use, integrated cell models, where drug transport and drug metabolism processes could be studied simultaneously. HEK293 cells stably transfected with the organic anion transporting polypeptide 1B1 (OATP1B1) were subjected to either transient transfection or adenoviral infection to introduce the genes expressing cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), NADPH cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR), cytochrome b(5) (CYB5A), and multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1), in different combinations. Thereafter, the time and concentration dependent transport and metabolism of two well-characterized statins, atorvastatin (acid and lactone forms) and simvastatin (acid form), were determined in the different models. The results show that CYP3A4-dependent metabolism of the more hydrophilic atorvastatin acid was dependent on OATP1B1 uptake and influenced by MDR1 efflux. In contrast, the metabolism of the more lipophilic atorvastatin lactone was not affected by active transport, whereas the metabolism of simvastatin acid was less influenced by active transport than atorvastatin acid. Our results, together with the models being applicative for any combination of drug transporters and CYP metabolizing enzymes of choice, provide proof-of-concept for the potential of the new integrated cell models presented as valuable screening tools in drug discovery and development
|
|
| 5. |
- Strand, Sabina P, et al.
(författare)
-
Molecular design of chitosan gene delivery systems with an optimized balance between polyplex stability and polyplex unpacking
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Biomaterials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0142-9612 .- 1878-5905. ; 31:5, s. 975-987
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chitosan is an attractive gene delivery vehicle, but the criteria and strategies for the design of efficient chitosan gene delivery systems remain unclear. The purpose of this work was to investigate how the strength of the charge-based interaction between chitosan and DNA determines the gene expression levels and to design chitosan vectors with an optimized balance between polyplex stability and polyplex unpacking. Using 21 formulations based on low molecular weight chitosans with constant charge density and a number-average degree of polymerization (DPn) in the range of 21-88 (M(w) 4.7-33kDa), we studied the relationship between the chain length and the formulation properties, cellular uptake of polyplexes and gene transfer efficacy. We were able to identify a narrow interval of DPn31-42 that mediated the maximum level of transgene expression. An increase in chain length and/or the amino-phosphate (A/P) ratio reduced and delayed transgene expression. Compared to DPn31, transfection with the same amount of DPn72 or DPn88 resulted in 10-fold-lower expression levels. The gene transfer pattern correlated with the ability of heparin to release DNA from the polyplexes. As a tool to facilitate the unpacking of the polyplexes, we substituted the chitosans with uncharged oligosaccharides that reduced the interaction with DNA. The substitution of chitosans that originally yielded too stable polyplexes, such as DPn72 and DPn88 resulted in a 5-10-fold enhancement of the expression levels. However, the substitution of chitosans shorter than DP28 completely abolished transfection. Tailoring of the chain length and the substitution of chitosan were shown to be feasible tools to modulate the electrostatic interactions between the chitosan and DNA and to design chitosans with an optimized balance between polyplex stability and polyplex unpacking.
|
|
