Analysis of the Functional Polymorphism in the Cytochrome P450 CYP2C8 Gene Rs11572080 With Regard to Colorectal Cancer Risk.

Analysis of the Functional Polymorphism in the Cytochrome P450 CYP2C8 Gene rs11572080 with Regard to Colorectal Cancer Risk.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Front Genet. 2012; 3: 278
Ladero JM, Agúndez JA, Martínez C, Amo G, Ayuso P, García-Martín E

In addition to the known effects on drug metabolism and response, functional polymorphisms of genes coding for xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes (XME) play a role in cancer. Genes coding for XME act as low-penetrance genes and confer modest but consistent and significant risks for a variety of cancers related to the interaction of environmental and genetic factors. Consistent evidence supports a role for polymorphisms of the cytochrome P450 CYP2C9 gene as a protecting factor for colorectal cancer susceptibility. It has been shown that CYP2C8 and CYP2C9 overlap in substrate specificity. Because CYP2C8 has the common functional polymorphisms rs11572080 and rs10509681 (CYP2C8*3), it could be speculated that part of the findings attributed to CYP2C9 polymorphisms may actually be related to the presence of polymorphisms in the CYP2C8 gene. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the role of the CYP2C8 polymorphism in colorectal cancer. We analyzed the influence of the CYP2C8*3 allele in the risk of developing colorectal cancer in genomic DNA from 153 individuals suffering colorectal cancer and from 298 age- and gender-matched control subjects. Our findings do not support any effect of the CYP2C8*3 allele (OR for carriers of functional CYP2C8 alleles?=?0.50 (95% CI?=?0.16-1.59; p?=?0.233). The absence of a relative risk related to CYP2C8*3 did not vary depending on the tumor site. We conclude that the risk of developing colorectal cancer does not seem to be related to the commonest functional genetic variation in the CYP2C8 gene.
HubMed – drug

 

Systematic and efficient side chain optimization for molecular docking using a cheapest-path procedure.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

J Comput Chem. 2013 Feb 19;
Schumann M, Armen RS

Molecular docking of small-molecules is an important procedure for computer-aided drug design. Modeling receptor side chain flexibility is often important or even crucial, as it allows the receptor to adopt new conformations as induced by ligand binding. However, the accurate and efficient incorporation of receptor side chain flexibility has proven to be a challenge due to the huge computational complexity required to adequately address this problem. Here we describe a new docking approach with a very fast, graph-based optimization algorithm for assignment of the near-optimal set of residue rotamers. We extensively validate our approach using the 40 DUD target benchmarks commonly used to assess virtual screening performance and demonstrate a large improvement using the developed side chain optimization over rigid receptor docking (average ROC AUC of 0.693 vs. 0.623). Compared to numerous benchmarks, the overall performance is better than nearly all other commonly used procedures. Furthermore, we provide a detailed analysis of the level of receptor flexibility observed in docking results for different classes of residues and elucidate potential avenues for further improvement. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
HubMed – drug

 

Protein-specific force field derived from the fragment molecular orbital method can improve protein-ligand binding interactions.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

J Comput Chem. 2013 Feb 19;
Chang L, Ishikawa T, Kuwata K, Takada S

Accurate computational estimate of the protein-ligand binding affinity is of central importance in rational drug design. To improve accuracy of the molecular mechanics (MM) force field (FF) for protein-ligand simulations, we use a protein-specific FF derived by the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method and by the restrained electrostatic potential (RESP) method. Applying this FMO-RESP method to two proteins, dodecin, and lysozyme, we found that protein-specific partial charges tend to differ more significantly from the standard AMBER charges for isolated charged atoms. We did not see the dependence of partial charges on the secondary structure. Computing the binding affinities of dodecin with five ligands by MM PBSA protocol with the FMO-RESP charge set as well as with the standard AMBER charges, we found that the former gives better correlation with experimental affinities than the latter. While, for lysozyme with five ligands, both charge sets gave similar and relatively accurate estimates of binding affinities. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
HubMed – drug

 

Co-delivery of 10-Hydroxycamptothecin with Doxorubicin Conjugated Prodrugs for Enhanced Anticancer Efficacy.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Macromol Biosci. 2013 Feb 18;
Zhang Y, Xiao C, Li M, Chen J, Ding J, He C, Zhuang X, Chen X

Well-defined amphiphilic linear-dendritic prodrugs (MPEG-b-PAMAM-DOX) are synthesized by conjugating doxorubicin (DOX), to MPEG-b-PAMAM through the acid-labile hydrazone bond. The amphiphilic prodrugs form self-assembled nanoparticles in deionized water and encapsulate the hydrophobic anticancer drug 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) with a high drug loading efficiency. Studies on drug release and cellular uptake of the co-delivery system reveal that both drugs are released in a pH-dependent manner and effectively taken up by MCF-7 cells. In vitro methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assays and drug-induced apoptosis tests demonstrate the HCPT-loaded nanoparticles suppress cancer cell growth more efficiently than the MPEG-b-PAMAM-DOX prodrugs, free HCPT, and physical mixtures of MPEG-b-PAMAM-DOX and HCPT at equivalent DOX or HCPT doses.
HubMed – drug

 

CNP/cGMP signaling regulates axon branching and growth by modulating microtubule polymerization.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Dev Neurobiol. 2013 Feb 18;
Xia C, Nguyen M, Garrison AK, Zhao Z, Wang Z, Sutherland C, Ma L

The peptide hormone CNP has recently been found to positively regulate axon branching and growth via activation of cGMP signaling in embryonic dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, but the cellular mechanisms mediating the regulation of these developmental processes have not been established. In this study, we provide evidence linking CNP/cGMP signaling to microtubule dynamics via the microtubule regulator CRMP2. First, phosphorylation of CRMP2 can be suppressed by cGMP activation in embryonic DRG neurons, and non-phosphorylated CRMP2 promotes axon branching and growth. In addition, real time analysis of growing microtubule ends indicates a similar correlation of CRMP2 phosphorylation and its activity in promoting microtubule polymerization rates and durations in COS cells and DRG growth cones. Moreover, direct activation of cGMP signaling leads to increased assembly of dynamic microtubules in DRG growth cones. Finally, low doses of a microtubule depolymerization drug nocodazole block CNP/cGMP-dependent axon branching and growth. Taken together, our results support a critical role of microtubule dynamics in mediating CNP/cGMP regulation of axonal development. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2013.
HubMed – drug

 

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