Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Ian G Macreadie.
Broad antifungal structure-activity relationships governing epoxy-endoperoxides 2 and 3 and their parent endoperoxides 1 are reported. Their inhibitory activity against Candida albicans in conjunction with hemolytic activity and/or growth inhibition of cultured mammalian cells are reported. This information provided guidance for the further development of endoperoxide and epoxy-endoperoxides as topical antifungal agents.
The Pneumocystis carinii gene encoding the enzyme dihydrofolate synthase (DHFS), which is involved in the essential biosynthesis of folates, was isolated from clones of the Pneumocystis genome project, and sequenced. The deduced P. carinii DHFS protein shares 38% and 35% identity with DHFS of Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, respectively. P. carinii DHFS expressed from a plasmid functionally complemented a S. cerevisiae mutant with no DHFS. Comparison of available DHFSs with highly similar folylpolyglutamate synthases allowed the identification of potential signatures responsible for the specificities of these two classes of enzymes. The results open the way to experimentally analyse the structure and function of P. carinii mono-functional enzyme DHFS, to investigate a possible role of DHFS in the resistance to antifolates of P. jirovecii, the species infecting specifically humans, and to develop a new class of antifolates.
Statins are a class of drugs widely used for lowering high cholesterol levels through their action on 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, a key enzyme in the synthesis of cholesterol. We studied the effects of two major statins, simvastatin and atorvastatin, on five Candida species and Aspergillus fumigatus. The statins strongly inhibited the growth of all species, except Candida krusei. Supplementation of Candida albicans and A. fumigatus with ergosterol or cholesterol in aerobic culture led to substantial recovery from the inhibition by statins, suggesting specificity of statins for the mevalonate synthesis pathway. Our findings suggest that the statins could have utility as antifungal agents and that fungal colonization could be affected in those on statin therapy.
In Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other fungi, the enzymes dihydroneopterin aldolase, 6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropterin pyrophosphokinase (HPPK) and dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) are encoded by a polycistronic gene that is translated into a single polypeptide having all three functions. These enzymatic functions are essential to both prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes, and catalyse sequential reactions in folate biosynthesis. Deletion or disruption of either function leads to cell death. These enzymes are absent from mammals and thus make ideal antimicrobial targets. DHPS is currently the target of antifolate therapy for a number of infectious diseases, and its activity is inhibited by sulfonamides and sulfones. These drugs are typically used as part of a synergistic cocktail with the 2,4-diaminopyrimidines that inhibit dihydrofolate reductase. A gene encoding the S.cerevisiae HPPK and DHPS enzymes has been cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. A complex of the purified bifunctional polypeptide with a pterin monophosphate substrate analogue has been crystallized, and its structure solved by molecular replacement and refined to 2.3A resolution. The polypeptide consists of two structural domains, each of which closely resembles its respective monofunctional bacterial HPPK and DHPS counterpart. The mode of ligand binding is similar to that observed in the bacterial enzymes. The association between the domains within the polypeptide as well as the quaternary association of the polypeptide via its constituent DHPS domains provide insight into the assembly of the trifunctional enzyme in S.cerevisiae and probably other fungal species.
Pneumocystis jirovecii is a major opportunistic pathogen that causes Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). Drug treatment failure has been associated epidemiologically with point mutations in the gene for dihydropteroate synthase which is part of a gene that encodes three covalently linked enzymes involved in folic acid synthesis (FAS). The evaluation of whether mutations found in P. jirovecii FAS lead to sulfa drug resistance is hampered by the lack of a culture system for P. jirovecii as well as the failure of P. jirovecii FAS to complement in a heterologous system. Therefore, we chose to model the P. jirovecii mutations in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae FAS protein (encoded by FOL1) via its expression in Escherichia coli. An optimized drug diffusion assay was used to evaluate the FAS mutants against 15 sulfa drugs. It was established that the single amino acid substitution, P599S, in the (DHPS) domain of FAS led to sulfa drug resistance, whereas the T597A substitution led to increased sensitivity. The presence of both mutations (T597A and P599S) was cooperative and led to increased sulfa drug resistance. Analysis of a novel double mutant, (T597V P599S) was found to have significantly higher sulfa drug resistance than the T597A P599S mutant. These data suggest that further amino acid substitutions may lead to the evolution of higher sulfa drug resistance. Two sulfa drugs (sulfachloropyridazine and sulfathiazole) were identified that had higher inhibitory potential than sulfamethoxazole, which is currently the preferred treatment for PCP.
Pneumocystis jirovecii is a major opportunistic pathogen that causes Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) and results in a high degree of mortality in immunocompromised individuals. The drug of choice for PCP is typically sulfamethoxazole (SMX) or dapsone in conjunction with trimethoprim. Drug treatment failure and sulfa drug resistance have been implicated epidemiologically with point mutations in dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) of P. jirovecii. P. jirovecii cannot be cultured in vitro; however, heterologous complementation of the P. jirovecii trifunctional folic acid synthesis (PjFAS) genes with an E. coli DHPS-disrupted strain was recently achieved. This enabled the evaluation of SMX resistance conferred by DHPS mutations. In this study, we sought to determine whether DHPS mutations conferred sulfa drug cross-resistance to 15 commonly available sulfa drugs. It was established that the presence of amino acid substitutions (T(517)A or P(519)S) in the DHPS domain of PjFAS led to cross-resistance against most sulfa drugs evaluated. The presence of both mutations led to increased sulfa drug resistance, suggesting cooperativity and the incremental evolution of sulfa drug resistance. Two sulfa drugs (sulfachloropyridazine [SCP] and sulfamethoxypyridazine [SMP]) that had a higher inhibitory potential than SMX were identified. In addition, SCP, SMP, and sulfadiazine (SDZ) were found to be capable of inhibiting the clinically observed drug-resistant mutants. We propose that SCP, SMP, and SDZ should be considered for clinical evaluation against PCP or for future development of novel sulfa drug compounds.
Dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) can metabolise sulfa drugs into sulfa-dihydropteroate (sulfa-DHP), which inhibits cell growth through competition with dihydrofolate (DHF), possibly indicating dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) as the target of sulfa-DHP. The effect of over-production of DHFR on sulfa-DHP resistance was examined in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a strain that requires DHF for growth. This strain was transformed with a plasmid which encodes over-production of DHFR in the presence of CuSO4. Over-production led to resistance to sulfa-DHP suggesting that sulfa-DHP targets DHFR. Spontaneous mutants hyper-resistant to sulfa-DHP did not show any changes within DHFR.
We report the synthesis of a series of novel epoxy endoperoxide compounds that can be prepared in high yields in one to three steps from simple starting materials. Some of these compounds inhibit the growth of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro. Structure-activity studies indicate that an endoperoxide ring bisubstituted with saturated cyclic moieties is the pharmacophore. To study the molecular basis of the action of these novel antimalarial compounds, we examined their ability to interact with oxidized and reduced forms of heme. Some of the compounds interact with oxidized heme in a fashion similar to chloroquine and other 4-aminoquinolines, while some of the compounds interact with reduced heme. However, the level of antimalarial potency is not well correlated with these activities, suggesting that some of the endoperoxides may exert their antimalarial activities by a novel mechanism of action.
Pneumocystis pneumonia or PCP is caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii, an obligate parasite of the human lung. In this study P. jirovecii genomic sequence encoding FAS, a trifunctional protein including dihydroneopterin aldolase (DHNA), hydroxymethyldihydropterin pyrophosphokinase (PPPK) and dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) were identified by PCR amplification from fixed broncheolar lavage samples from patients having Pneumocystis pneumonia. The P. jirovecii trifunctional DHNA-PPPK-DHPS genes (PjFAS) showed a high degree of conservation with the rat Pneumocystis carinii and P. carinii f. sp. macaca sequences. To test the functionality of the PjFAS sequences introns were removed followed by cloning and expression of PjFAS sequences in a DHPS-disrupted Escherichia coli strain. Complementation depended on the presence of N-terminal FAS sequences in addition to a glutathione S- transferase tag to the N-terminus of PjFAS. Functional complementation allowed evaluation of DHPS mutations implicated with sulfa drug resistance.
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Dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) mutations in Pneumocystis jiroveci have been associated epidemiologically with resistance to sulfamethoxazole (SMX). Since P. jiroveci cannot be cultured, inherent drug resistance cannot be measured. This study explores the effects of these mutations in a tractable model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Based on the sequence conservation between the DHPS enzymes of P. jiroveci and S. cerevisiae, together with the structural conservation of the three known DHPS structures, DHPS substitutions commonly observed in P. jiroveci were reverse engineered into the S. cerevisiae DHPS. Those mutations, T(597)A and P(599)S, can occur singly but are most commonly found together and are associated with SMX treatment failure. Mutations encoding the corresponding changes in the S. cerevisiae dhps were made in a yeast centromere vector, p414FYC, which encodes the native yeast DHPS as part of a trifunctional protein that also includes the two enzymes upstream of DHPS in the folic acid synthesis pathway, dihydroneopterin aldolase and 2-amino-4-hydroxymethyl dihydropteridine pyrophosphokinase. A yeast strain with dhps deleted was employed as the host strain, and transformants having DHPS activity were recovered. Mutants having both T(597) and P(599) substitutions had a requirement for p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), consistent with resistance being associated with altered substrate binding. These mutants could be adapted for growth in the absence of PABA, which coincided with increased sulfa drug resistance. Upregulated PABA synthesis was thus implicated as a mechanism for sulfa drug resistance for mutants having two DHPS substitutions.
Microbes and plants synthesise folate using a unique biosynthetic pathway that is absent in animals. The end product, tetrahydrofolate, is utilised by all forms of life. In this study, an intermediate in this synthesis, dihydropteroic acid, was found to be toxic to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Further tests were performed on mutants deficient in folate synthesis. One mutant specifically lacked dihydropteroate synthase and the second lacked dihydrofolate synthase. Dihydropteroic acid itself appeared to be toxic since both of these mutants were also inhibited. These results suggest novel ways in which antifolate therapy may be developed.
Blockade of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway suppresses growth of colon cancer in vivo. Here we demonstrate a direct link between the extracellular signal-regulated kinase ERK2 and the growth-promoting cell adhesion molecule, integrin alphavbeta6, in colon cancer cells. Down-regulation of beta6 integrin subunit expression inhibits tumour growth in vivo and MAP kinase activity in response to serum stimulation. In alphavbeta6-expressing cells ERK2 is bound only to the beta6 subunit. The increase in cytosolic MAP kinase activity upon epidermal growth factor stimulation is all accounted for by beta6-bound ERK. Deletion of the ERK2 binding site on the beta6 cytoplasmic domain inhibits tumour growth and leads to an association between ERK and the beta5 subunit. The physical interaction between integrin alphavbeta6 and ERK2 defines a novel paradigm of integrin-mediated signalling and provides a therapeutic target for cancer treatment.
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