Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis, Structure-Activity Relationships, And Antitumor Activities Of Quinoxiline-Containing Inhibitors Of The Protein-Protein Interactions Between Transcription Coactivator Af9/Enl And Dot1l/Af4, Chandra Bhushan Mishra, Xin Li, Bala Krishna Moku, Sehun Kwak, Dnyaneshwar N Garad, Yongcheng Song

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene rearrangements cause ~75% of acute leukemia in infants and 5-10% in children and adults with poor clinical outcomes. Protein-protein interactions (PPI) between frequent MLL fusion partners AF9/ENL and AF4 or histone methyltransferase DOT1L are drug targets for MLL-rearranged (MLL-r) leukemia. Sixty-seven quinoxiline compounds were synthesized and tested for their ability to inhibit such PPIs. Compounds 16, 17, 59 and 63 were found to be potent inhibitors with IC50 values of 0.35-1.5 μM. Structure-activity relationships are discussed. Potent inhibitors can suppress expression of MLL target genes Myc and Meis1 and selectively block proliferation of MLL-r and …

Lung-Delivered Il-10 Mitigates Lung Inflammation Induced By Repeated Endotoxin Exposures In Male Mice, Aaron Schwab, Todd A. Wyatt, Oliver Schanze, Amy J. Nelson, Angela Gleason, Michael J. Duryee, Deanna Mosley, Geoffrey M. Thiele, Ted R. Mikuls, Jill A. Poole

Journal Articles: Environmental, Agricultural & Occupational Health

Therapies capable of resolving inflammatory lung disease resulting from high-consequence occupational/environmental hazards are lacking. This study seeks to determine the therapeutic potential of direct lung-delivered interleukin (IL)-10 following repeated lipopolysaccharide exposures. C57BL/6 mice were intratracheally instilled with LPS (10 μg) and treated with IL-10 (1 μg) or vehicle control for 3 days. Lung cell infiltrates were enumerated by flow cytometry. Lung sections were stained for myeloperoxidase (MPO), CCR2, vimentin, and post-translational protein citrullination (CIT) and malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde (MAA) modifications. Lung function testing and longitudinal in vivo micro-CT imaging were performed. Whole lungs were profiled using bulk RNA sequencing. IL-10 treatment reduced …

Enhanced Ctla-4 Blockade Anti-Tumor Immunity With Apg-157 Combination In A Murine Head And Neck Cancer, Daniel Sanghoon Shin, Saroj Basak, Mysore S Veena, Begoña Comin-Anduix, Arjun Bhattacharya, Tien S Dong, Albert Ko, Philip Han, Jonathan Jacobs, Neda A Moatamed, Luis Avila, Matteo Pellegrini, Marilene Wang, Eri S Srivatsan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: A phase I clinical study for patients with locally advanced H&N cancer with a new class of botanical drug APG-157 provided hints of potential synergy with immunotherapy. We sought to evaluate the efficacy of the combination of APG-157 and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

METHODS: CCL23, UM-SCC1 (human), and SCCVII (HPV-), MEER (HPV+) (murine) H&N cancer cell lines were utilized for in vitro and in vivo studies. We measured tumor growth by treating the mice with APG-157, anti-PD-1, and anti-CTLA-4 antibody combinations (8 groups). The tumor microenvironments were assessed by multi-color flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and RNA-seq analysis. Fecal microbiome was analyzed …

Thioredoxin Reductase Is A Major Regulator Of Metabolism In Leukemia Cells, Sheelarani Karunanithi, Ruifu Liu, Yongchun Hou, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Natasha Oldford, Anne Jessica Roe, Nethrie Idipilly, Kalpana Gupta, Chandra Sekhar Amara, Satwikreddy Putluri, Grace Kyueun Lee, Juan Valentin-Goyco, Lindsay Stetson, Stephen A Moreton, Vasanta Putluri, Shyam M Kavuri, Yogen Saunthararajah, Marcos De Lima, Gregory P Tochtrop, Nagireddy Putluri, David N Wald

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite the fact that AML is the most common acute leukemia in adults, patient outcomes are poor necessitating the development of novel therapies. We identified that inhibition of Thioredoxin Reductase (TrxR) is a promising strategy for AML and report a highly potent and specific inhibitor of TrxR, S-250. Both pharmacologic and genetic inhibition of TrxR impairs the growth of human AML in mouse models. We found that TrxR inhibition leads to a rapid and marked impairment of metabolism in leukemic cells subsequently leading to cell death. TrxR was found to be a major and direct regulator of metabolism in AML …

Synthesis, Structure-Activity Relationships, And Antiviral Activity Of Allosteric Inhibitors Of Flavivirus Ns2b-Ns3 Protease, Shenyou Nie, Yuan Yao, Fangrui Wu, Xiaowei Wu, Jidong Zhao, Yuanda Hua, Jingyu Wu, Tong Huo, Yi-Lun Lin, Alexander R Kneubehl, Megan B Vogt, Josephine Ferreon, Rebecca Rico-Hesse, Yongcheng Song

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Flaviviruses, including Zika, dengue and West Nile virus, are important human pathogens. The highly conserved NS2B-NS3 protease of Flavivirus is essential for viral replication and therefore a promising drug target. Through compound screen followed by medicinal chemistry studies, a novel series of 2,5,6-trisubstituted pyrazine compounds are found to be potent, allosteric inhibitors of Zika virus protease (ZVpro) with IC50 values as low as 130 nM. Their structure-activity relationships are discussed. The ZVpro inhibitors also inhibit homologous proteases of dengue and West Nile virus and their inhibitory activities are correlated. The most potent compounds 47 and 103 potently inhibited Zika virus …

Small-Molecule Inhibitor Of Af9/Enl-Dot1l/Af4/Aff4 Interactions Suppresses Malignant Gene Expression And Tumor Grow, Fangrui Wu, Shenyou Nie, Yuan Yao, Tong Huo, Xin Li, Xiaowei Wu, Jidong Zhao, Yi-Lun Lin, Yinjie Zhang, Qianxing Mo, Yongcheng Song

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Chromosome translocations involving mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene cause acute leukemia with a poor prognosis. MLL is frequently fused with transcription cofactors AF4 (~35%), AF9 (25%) or its paralog ENL (10%). The AHD domain of AF9/ENL binds to AF4, its paralog AFF4, or histone-H3 lysine-79 (H3K79) methyltransferase DOT1L. Formation of AF9/ENL/AF4/AFF4-containing super elongation complexes (SEC) and the catalytic activity of DOT1L are essential for MLL-rearranged leukemia. Protein-protein interactions (PPI) between AF9/ENL and DOT1L/AF4/AFF4 are therefore a potential drug target.

Methods: Compound screening followed by medicinal chemistry was used to find inhibitors of such PPIs, which were examined for their biological …

Neuroinflammation And Neurologic Deficits In Diabetes Linked To Brain Accumulation Of Amylin, Sarah Srodulski, Savita Sharma, Adam B. Bachstetter, Jennifer M. Brelsfoard, Conrado Pascual, Xinmin Simon Xie, Kathryn E. Saatman, Linda J. Van Eldik, Florin Despa

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: We recently found that brain tissue from patients with type-2 diabetes (T2D) and cognitive impairment contains deposits of amylin, an amyloidogenic hormone synthesized and co-secreted with insulin by pancreatic β-cells. Amylin deposition is promoted by chronic hypersecretion of amylin (hyperamylinemia), which is common in humans with obesity or pre-diabetic insulin resistance. Human amylin oligomerizes quickly when oversecreted, which is toxic, induces inflammation in pancreatic islets and contributes to the development of T2D. Here, we tested the hypothesis that accumulation of oligomerized amylin affects brain function.

METHODS: In contrast to amylin from humans, rodent amylin is neither amyloidogenic nor cytotoxic. …

Erosive Arthritis And Hepatic Granuloma Formation Induced By Peptidoglycan Polysaccharide In Rats Is Aggravated By Prasugrel Treatment., Analia E Garcia, Mario C Rico, Elisabetta Liverani, Raul A Dela Cadena, Paul F. Bray, Satya P Kunapuli

Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research

Administration of the thienopyridine P2Y12 receptor antagonist, clopidogrel, increased the erosive arthritis induced by peptidoglycan polysaccharide (PG-PS) in rats or by injection of the arthritogenic K/BxN serum in mice. To determine if the detrimental effects are caused exclusively by clopidogrel, we evaluated prasugrel, a third-generation thienopyridine pro-drug, that contrary to clopidogrel is mostly metabolized into its active metabolite in the intestine. Prasugrel effects were examined on the PG-PS-induced arthritis rat model. Erosive arthritis was induced in Lewis rats followed by treatment with prasugrel for 21 days. Prasugrel treated arthritic animals showed a significant increase in the inflammatory response, compared with …

Neurological And Behavioral Abnormalities, Ventricular Dilatation, Altered Cellular Functions, Inflammation, And Neuronal Injury In Brains Of Mice Due To Common, Persistent, Parasitic Infection, Gretchen Hermes, James W. Ajioka, Krystyna A. Kelly, Ernest Mui, Fiona Roberts, Kristen Kasza, Thomas Mayr, Michael J. Kirisits, Robert Wollman, David J.P Ferguson, Craig W. Roberts, Jong-Hee Hwang, Toria Trendler, Richard P. Kennan, Yasuhiro Suzuki, Catherine Reardon, William F. Hickey, Lieping Chen, Rima Mcleod

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background:

Worldwide, approximately two billion people are chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii with largely unknown consequences.

Methods:

To better understand long-term effects and pathogenesis of this common, persistent brain infection, mice were infected at a time in human years equivalent to early to mid adulthood and studied 5–12 months later. Appearance, behavior, neurologic function and brain MRIs were studied. Additional analyses of pathogenesis included: correlation of brain weight and neurologic findings; histopathology focusing on brain regions; full genome microarrays; immunohistochemistry characterizing inflammatory cells; determination of presence of tachyzoites and bradyzoites; electron microscopy; and study of markers of inflammation in serum. …