Biomedical subjects

Chang-Zhi Dong

Publications and source records attributed to Chang-Zhi Dong.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Neuronal apoptotic signaling pathways probed and intervened by synthetically and modularly modified (SMM) chemokines.

As the main coreceptors for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) entry, CXCR4 and CCR5 play important roles in HIV-associated dementia (HAD). HIV-1 glycoprotein gp120 contributes to HAD by causing neuronal damage and death, either directly by triggering apoptotic pathways or indirectly by stimulating glial cells to release neurotoxins. Here, to understand the mechanism of CXCR4 or CCR5 signaling in neuronal apoptosis associated with HAD, we have applied synthetically and modularly modified (SMM)-chemokine analogs derived from natural stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha or viral macrophage inflammatory protein-II as chemical probes of the mechanism(s) whereby these SMM-chemokines prevent or promote neuronal apoptosis. We show that inherently neurotoxic natural ligands of CXCR4, such as stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha or viral macrophage inflammatory protein-II, can be modified to protect neurons from apoptosis induced by CXCR4-preferring gp120(IIIB), and that the inhibition of CCR5 by antagonist SMM-chemokines, unlike neuroprotective CCR5 natural ligands, leads to neurotoxicity by activating a p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-dependent pathway. Furthermore, we discover distinct signaling pathways activated by different chemokine ligands that are either natural agonists or synthetic antagonists, thus demonstrating a chemical biology strategy of using chemically engineered inhibitors of chemokine receptors to study the signaling mechanism of neuronal apoptosis and survival.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗

PubMed2006

Pharmacological profile of PMS777, a new AChE inhibitor with PAF antagonistic activity.

The key pathophysiological mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease involve the selective loss of cholinergic neurons and pro-inflammatory mediator-related chronic inflammatory responses in the brain, therefore interventions of these processes are crucial to the treatment of this disease. In the present study, the pharmacological profile of PMS777, a new acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor with platelet-activating factor (PAF) antagonistic activity, has been evaluated in vitro and in vivo. PMS777 (1-100 microM) dose-dependently inhibited PAF-induced rabbit platelet aggregation by competing with [3H]PAF for its receptor on platelets, and protected a human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y against PAF-induced neurotoxicity. Moreover, it markedly inhibited brain AChE activity in mice and showed a modest selectivity for AChE (AChE: IC50=2.48+/-0.12 microM; butyrylcholinesterase: IC50=4.47+/-0.15 microM). Ex vivo, PMS777 (5, 10, 20 or 40 mg/kg i.p.) reduced brain AChE activity in a dose-dependent manner. In-vivo studies revealed that PMS777 (0.25, 0.5, 1, 2.5 or 5 mg/kg i.p.) could reverse scopolamine-induced memory retrieval deficits in mice, and displayed a typical bell-shaped dose-response relationship. Taken together, these results demonstrate that PMS777 possesses dual activities for PAF receptor antagonism and AChE inhibition, suggesting that this compound may be a promising lead compound for further investigation related to the treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Acetylcholinesterase↗

PubMed2006

SMM-chemokines: a class of unnatural synthetic molecules as chemical probes of chemokine receptor biology and leads for therapeutic development.

Chemokines and their receptors play important roles in numerous physiological and pathological processes. To develop natural chemokines into receptor probes and inhibitors of pathological processes, the lack of chemokine-receptor selectivity must be overcome. Here, we apply chemical synthesis and the concept of modular modifications to generate unnatural synthetically and modularly modified (SMM)-chemokines that have high receptor selectivity and affinity, and reduced toxicity. A proof of the concept was shown by transforming the nonselective viral macrophage inflammatory protein-II into new analogs with enhanced selectivity and potency for CXCR4 or CCR5, two principal coreceptors for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 entry. These new analogs provided insights into receptor binding and signaling mechanisms and acted as potent HIV-1 inhibitors. These results support the concept of SMM-chemokines for studying and controlling the function of other chemokine receptors.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Different stereochemical requirements for CXCR4 binding and signaling functions as revealed by an anti-HIV, D-amino acid-containing SMM-chemokine ligand.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) uses a chemokine receptor, usually CXCR4 or CCR5, for entry into the target cells. Here, we used a chemical biology approach to demonstrate that binding and signaling domains in CXCR4 are possibly distinct and separate, as the new analogue, D(1-10)-vMIP-II-(9-68)-SDF-1alpha (RCP222), could not activate CXCR4 despite the fact that its binding activity was comparable to that of stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1alpha, the only natural ligand of CXCR4.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Differential effect of PMS777, a new type of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, and galanthamine on oxidative injury induced in human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells.

In the search for highly selective and potent cholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) being able to improve oxidative injury, PMS777, a tetrahydrofuran derivative, was designed as a novel dual PAF and acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. The aim of this study was to investigate the modulatory effects of PMS777 and galanthamine, another AChEI, on the oxidative injury induced in neuronal cells. The SK-N-SH cells stimulated with LPS+IL-(1beta) were selected to investigate the direct inhibitory effect of PMS777 and galanthamine. LPS+IL-(1beta) induced oxidative injury as assessed by ROS production (29%), GSH depletion (11%) and loss of mitochondrial activity (22%). GSH depletion was never decreased by either drug. In contrast, ROS production and mitochondrial activity were totally prevented by addition of PMS777 but not galanthamine. PMS777 also inhibits butylcholinesterase and it shows selectivity for acetylcholinesterase. Thus, this PAF antagonist inaugurates a new type of AChEI, able to fight oxidative injury. Therefore, PMS777 could be of interest on patients with cognitive impairments and inflammatory damage, as in AD.

Acetylcholinesterase↗

PubMed2005

Inhibition of secretory phospholipase A2. 2-Synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of 4,5-dihydro-3-(4-tetradecyloxybenzyl)-1,2,4-4H-oxadiazol-5-one (PMS1062) derivatives specific for group II enzyme.

We have recently reported the discovery of a series of specific inhibitors of human group IIA phospholipase A(2) (hGIIA PLA(2)) to display promising in vitro and in vivo properties. Here we describe the influence of different structural modifications on the specificity and potency against hGIIA PLA(2) versus porcine group IB PLA(2). The SAR results, as well as the logP and pK(a) values of oxadiazolone determined in this work, provide important information towards the comprehension of the mode of action of this kind of compounds.

Alkylation↗

PubMed2005

Inhibition of secretory phospholipase A2. 1-design, synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies starting from 4-tetradecyloxybenzamidine to obtain specific inhibitors of group II sPLA2s.

Starting from 4-tetradecyloxybenzamidine (PMS815), a non-specific inhibitor of GI and GII PLA2s, we report in this work the discovery of the specificity through design, synthesis and structure-activity relationships studies of different kinds of PMS815 derivatives. The leading compound, 4,5-dihydro-3-(4-tetradecyloxybenzyl)-1,2,4-4H-oxadiazol-5-one (9b, PMS1062) exhibits a micromolar IC50 towards three group II PLA2s, while inactive towards four group I and one group III enzymes in two in vitro enzymatic assay conditions. It is also able to block the PLA2-II activities induced by LPS and IL-6 in HepG2 cell line and no cytotoxicity is observed when PMS1062 is tested up to a concentration of 100 microM in two different cell lines (A549 and LLC-PK1).

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Unique ligand binding sites on CXCR4 probed by a chemical biology approach: implications for the design of selective human immunodeficiency virus type 1 inhibitors.

The chemokine receptor CXCR4 plays an important role as the receptor for the normal physiological function of stromal cell-derived factor 1alpha (SDF-1alpha) and the coreceptor for the entry of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) into the cell. In a recent work (S. Tian et al., J. Virol. 79:12667-12673, 2005), we found that many residues throughout CXCR4 transmembrane (TM) and extracellular loop 2 domains are specifically involved in interaction with HIV-1 gp120, as most of these sites did not play a role in either SDF-1alpha binding or signaling. These results provided direct experimental evidence for the distinct functional sites on CXCR4 for HIV-1 and the normal ligand SDF-1alpha. To further understand the CXCR4-ligand interaction and to develop new CXCR4 inhibitors to block HIV-1 entry, we have recently generated a new family of unnatural chemokines, termed synthetically and modularly modified (SMM) chemokines, derived from the native sequence of SDF-1alpha or viral macrophage inflammatory protein II (vMIP-II). These SMM chemokines contain various de novo-designed sequence replacements and substitutions by d-amino acids and display more enhanced CXCR4 selectivity, binding affinities, and/or anti-HIV activities than natural chemokines. Using these novel CXCR4-targeting SMM chemokines as receptor probes, we conducted ligand binding site mapping experiments on a panel of site-directed mutants of CXCR4. Here, we provide the first experimental evidence demonstrating that SMM chemokines interact with many residues on CXCR4 TM and extracellular domains that are important for HIV-1 entry, but not SDF-1alpha binding or signaling. The preferential overlapping in the CXCR4 binding residues of SMM chemokines with HIV-1 over SDF-1alpha illustrates a mechanism for the potent HIV-1 inhibition by these SMM chemokines. The discovery of distinct functional sites or conformational states influenced by these receptor sites mediating different functions of the natural ligand versus the viral or synthetic ligands has important implications for drug discovery, since the sites shared by SMM chemokines and HIV-1 but not by SDF-1alpha can be targeted for the development of selective HIV-1 inhibitors devoid of interference with normal SDF-1alpha function.

Anti-HIV Agents↗

PubMed2004

Structure-activity relationships in platelet-activating factor. 12. Synthesis and biological evaluation of platelet-activating factor antagonists with anti-HIV-1 activity.

The HIV-1 central nervous system infection leads to the onset of neurological impairments called AIDS dementia complex (ADC). PAF plays an important role in this pathology, as it is an HIV-1-induced neurotoxin produced by infected or activated macrophages and microglia, in the brain. We previously reported that PAF-antagonists bearing a trisubstituted piperazine presented in vitro anti-HIV-1 activity in human macrophages. To improve the pharmacological activities of our lead compound, 1a, we modified its carbamate function and evaluated both its antiretroviral and anti-PAF activities. One carbamate derivative (10c) demonstrated a similar antiviral activity but a higher anti-PAF potency, whereas 4a, with an ureide function, presents an increased antiviral activity and can be considered as a pure antiretroviral drug, as it does not present PAF-antagonism. Moreover, we measured the ability of 1a to cross the blood-brain barrier, using the in situ mouse brain perfusion method and its plasmatic concentrations after iv and po administration. The transport parameter measured (K(in)) proves that 1a is able to cross this biological barrier, but a pharmacokinetic study reveals its weak bioavailability in rats.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Total direct chemical synthesis and biological activities of human group IIA secretory phospholipase A2.

Human group IIA secretory phospholipase A(2) (hGIIA sPLA(2)) is reported to be involved in inflammation, since its expression level is enhanced under various inflammatory conditions. In this work, we report the total chemical synthesis of this enzyme (124 amino acids) by solid-phase method. The identity of the protein, in denatured or folded (7 disulphide bonds) forms, was confirmed by electrospray MS. Synthetic sPLA(2) possesses the same circular dichroism spectrum, enzymic activity in hydrolysing different phospholipid substrates, and inhibitory effect in thrombin formation from prothrombinase complex as the recombinant sPLA(2). Furthermore, LY311727, a reported specific hGIIA sPLA(2) inhibitor, is able to inhibit the synthetic and the recombinant enzymes with the same efficiency. This study demonstrates that chemically continuous solid phase synthesis is an alternative and less time-consuming approach to producing small, structurally folded and fully active proteins of up to 124 amino acids, such as hGIIA sPLA(2). Moreover, this technique provides more flexibility in analogue synthesis to elucidate their physiological functions and pathological effects.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Exploring the stereochemistry of CXCR4-peptide recognition and inhibiting HIV-1 entry with D-peptides derived from chemokines.

Chemokine receptor CXCR4 plays an important role in the immune system and the cellular entry of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). To probe the stereospecificity of the CXCR4-ligand interface, d-amino acid peptides derived from natural chemokines, viral macrophage inflammatory protein II (vMIP-II) and stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha), were synthesized and found to compete with (125)I-SDF-1alpha and monoclonal antibody 12G5 binding to CXCR4 with potency and selectivity comparable with or higher than their l-peptide counterparts. This was surprising because of the profoundly different side chain topologies between d- and l-enantiomers, which circular dichroism spectroscopy showed adopt mirror image conformations. Further direct binding experiments using d-peptide labeled with fluorescein (designated as FAM-DV1) demonstrated that d- and l-peptides shared similar or at least overlapping binding site(s) on the CXCR4 receptor. Structure-activity analyses of related peptide analogs of mixed chiralities or containing alanine replacements revealed specific residues at the N-terminal half of the peptides as key binding determinants. Acting as CXCR4 antagonists and with much higher biological stability than l-counterparts, the d-peptides showed significant activity in inhibiting the replication of CXCR4-dependent HIV-1 strains. These results show the remarkable stereochemical flexibility of the CXCR4-peptide interface. Further studies to understand the mechanism of this unusual feature of the CXCR4 binding surface might aid the development of novel CXCR4-binding molecules like the d-peptides that have high affinity and stability.

Alanine↗